Do I have any writing tools?

It is Friday - finally.  I am happy that we have made it through this week.  I even managed to have the information ready for the audit next week at work and was able to leave early today.  It's always nice when you can start the weekend an hour early.  A co-worker is getting married tomorrow evening and I know she is happy the rain has moved out.  What a beautiful day it was today. 

This post is about writing tools that we use regularly.  What are they, how do I use them and why are they important to me?  I think I have said it before, but just in case - my primary writing is done at work.  It's letters to clients, spreadsheets that I use templates or previous spreadsheets.  Other than this required blog, I don't write.  I've never been good about keeping a journal or diary, have never wanted to write a story or poem, that's not where my interests are.  So it's hard for me to think about what writing tools I use on a regular basis.  I don't make notes or outline what I need to write for letters, I just start typing.  When I need to create a spreadsheet, I just start adding and then make changes as needed.  The most important tools I use are editing and revising.  I make sure that I read every letter, and edit as necessary before sending it out to a client.  I will also ask a coworker to review if I am not sure about the correct wording or document sections that may need to be referenced.  I think proofreading and revising are important to make sure the message is clear and concise, the information is accurate and essential to the document and it's not cluttered with spelling and grammar errors.  And I definitely thank the spell check function to help with the proofreading. 

I am off to have dinner, find The Graduate to watch and go to a wedding this weekend.  I marked several things off the to do list this week, but never enough, because as always, there is too much to do.

Page design

We made it through another week.  I can’t believe we are entering the second week of October. Thanksgiving (family vacation in a tropical place) and Christmas will be here before we know it.  This week I will be watching Singin In the Rain for drama class.  I’m happy to have a musical this week – I haven’t seen a good, classic musical in a while.  I struggled this week with economics – never could find the formula or figure out how to calculate the growth rate of per capita real GDP.  Even though we are moving to the next module, I will be asking the investment guys I work with if they can provide some guidance. 

Last week in Technical Writing, we focused on design and layout of writing.  We had to take a document that was not well designed and redesign it.  I found it easy to make changes and make the document my own design.  One of the major changes I made was to adjust spacing and alignment of text, and to me it was surprising how much a change it made to tab something over and delete extra space.  With my career, most of my writing is a professional letter to my clients or excel spreadsheets.  Although I will not be using all the aspects of design and layout in these types of documents, like font styles, colors, images, etc., I still want to make sure that the information is laid out well, formulas are accurate and understandable.  I can say the design is important for documents like brochures, fliers, pamphlets, etc. that are displayed in a public area for people to choose.  You want to grab the attention of the audience, make them pick your brochure over all the others and that is done with design – colors, pictures, different font styles and sizes.  Just like the other steps of the writing process, you should take a few minutes to design, and if necessary redesign, your documents.

I am off to start working on the first major project for Drama class which is a movie critique essay due next week.  For Technical Writing we will be working on Peer Reviews and starting the next module of economics.  Throw in normal work and family stuff and as always, there is too much to do.

The Writing Process

How much is there to do this week?  Fortunately, there were no major issues this week that add more tasks to the list, and no need to re-prioritize the list.  But I do not think anything came off the list last week.  It was hard to focus on the details, and when that happens, you do what you can and keep going.  For my drama class this week we are watching Citizen Kane.  I have not seen this movie in a long while and although I do not always make enough time to watch some of the great classics, I am glad that we are watching various movies in this class and discussing them in the forums.  

This week we are looking at the writing process.  How can it be helpful to writers, to not feel overwhelmed with writing, to become more confident in their writing?  There are three steps in the writing process: Pre-writing, Writing and Post-Writing.  Pre-writing is the planning stage.  We ask questions like: What am I writing about?  Who am I writing to?  What information do I need and what format should I use?  This is where you start jotting ideas, researching material, making notes and an outline, and tracking your sources.  Next you start writing.  Follow your notes, stay on topic and make sure all information clearly adds to the main goal of the document.  Be aware of any requirements for that document, formatting, deadlines, etc.  The last stage is post-writing.  This is where you seek peer review and input.  Read your document and make sure it is clear and concise.  Did you deliver the all the pertinent information in an easy to understand way?  Is it accurate?  Did you use a spell check or some other type of review function to check for grammar, spelling and punctuation?  Did you cite all your sources properly?  Writing is not done until the work is published or distributed.  This can be done online, through email, or regular mail.  It could be done by setting the document in a public place for others to collect and read or included in a product packaging.  

We often see a big project and wonder how we can get that done when all we need to do is step back and take it one step at a time.  The writing process can help you do that.  It forces you to look at each stage and the steps in each stage, to break it down.  If you take the time to make notes and organize them in a way that works for you, then the writing will come together.  Use a review function, have someone read and edit for you the apply the final touches and you will have a polished and concise piece of writing that is ready for distribution.  

 We have almost made it through the week but there is still work to do.  I am off to finish watching Citizen Kane, do an essay and a couple of discussion posts because there is always too much to do.