Dear Reader,

Firstly, thank you for taking the time to stop by and read my paltry contributions. Thing is, I was wondering if you could do me a small favour, it really shouldn’t take too long.

Could you possibly leave a comment on this post, and let me know where you are from?

That’d be great!

Of course, feel free to heap praise on me and this humble blog if you so wish, but, really, all I’m looking for is to try and capture the people who read this blog and are willing to comment.

Yours in appreciation and thanks,

Gordon

Apologies for the silence, as ever life is making posting to this blog a ‘challenge’. I’ve not forgotten about it, and I will get back to more regular posting soon. I’ve a few posts almost completed that I’d love some feedback on, not to mention a few outstanding questions that have been asked in the comments to answer.

So, as the sign says, I’ll be back.

A quick reminder to those of you in the West of Scotland, there is an open meeting this evening to which you are invited. No agenda, just a chance to meet up with fellow technical writers. We are meeting at 7 p.m. in the offices of Sumerian in Glasgow city centre, at 19 Blythswood Square, Glasgow G2 4BG. Tea & coffee will be provided.

Thanks Katja for organising this, I’m looking forward to it as it’s always informative and interesting to meet fellow professionals. As my career progresses (or perhaps just because I’m getting older) I start to understand the true benefits of, what has now come to be known as, networking.

It’s the same reason I joined the ISTC, and also why this blog exists. I’ve been blogging, on a personal basis, for several years and have made some good friends so I have my own proof that blogging works as a way to network, to communicate.

It’s not that hard to quantify either. Directly because of this blog I realised how enthusiastic I am about my line of work, which made me want to get more involved which prompted the writing of a monthly column for the ISTC Newsletter and which also lead to my invitation to speak at the TICAD conference. I’ve swapped emails with technical writers from around the world and, quite genuinely, can say that through the blogs I follow I learn something new, if not every day, at least every week.

It can be hard to find the time to write posts, it can be hard to find something that I can write about (I try to steer clear of company specific issues), but it is rewarding and, I hope, of some use to others.

Networking isn’t easy. In a way I’m lucky as I have an outgoing personality, but the internet makes it so much easier. In saying that, it still doesn’t beat face to face communications so, if you are in the Glasgow area this evening, please come along.

Having been off work for a few days (a bad cold, I’ll live), and when not sleeping, sneezing or blowing my nose, I’ve been thinking about this blog and if I can commit to a more regular schedule of posting.

The recent posts on Consideration Layers were, I hoped, designed to prompt comment and discussion, two things that I can’t seem to make much headway into here. I have pretty good RSS reading figures but this remains a small blog, with a low numbers of readers.

Whilst I do try and keep a reserve of possible topics, I still tend to react to things when posting here but hopefully the coming months will change that.

For one, we are getting close to starting our journey towards single source at work, so I’d imagine there will be plenty of things there that will spark some blog posts here. I’m also hoping to get to a couple of conferences later in the year and they are always good for getting the creative juices following, and stirring up some enthusiasm.

Until then I’ll just take things as they come. Unless anyone has any suggestions, questions or comments?

Just a quick note to say it’ll be a little on the quiet side here over the next two weeks as I’m going to be a little hectic. I’ve got a product release (deadline of a week tomorrow), a new developer website to launch (deadline of a week on Monday), and after that a week long series of retrospective meetings that I’m facilitating. All of that takes me through to about the 21st of July.

That plus the remortgaging of our house and the imminent launch of iPhone 3G means when I’m not here, I’ll be asleep!

Until my return, check out my TechComms RSS List (download or view online), or take a cruise on the Writer River.

See you on the flip side.

A quick welcome to anyone visiting from the ISTC Communicator magazine. I feel a little spoiled getting two mentions in subsequent pages (10 & 12 if you are wondering) but I’m not really complaining.

Over the past year or so I’ve definitely got the feeling that the ISTC is changing, and it certainly feels like a more modern and dynamic organisation than it has seemed to be in the past. Perhaps that’s natural, but it’s amazing how little things like a redesign magazine and newsletter, and hopefully a new design for the website, can refocus the energies of those involved.

Anyway, thanks for dropping by, there are plenty of links and opinions to be found in the archives (scroll down a bit, they are on the right), and here are a few of the more popular posts:

• Everything is Connected
• DITA is not the answer
• Technical Writing evolved

Or perhaps you just want to download the RSS feeds.

I’ve been trying, unsuccessfully, to add a better (Google) search to this site. Alas because I have a hand-coded WordPress theme, and I last looked at it about a year ago, I’ve managed to bork the search results location.

So, for now, the search isn’t working. Nuts.

Thanks to Tom, it’s all working now, and it’s even better!