All of my technical writing has been along the lines of instruction. I'm less interested in documenting the features of a product than I am in writing to help a reader have a happier life, achieve personal goals, do better in his or her job, and be more fulfilled. To that end, I was often the writer assigned to the tutorials on a project.

My target reader was always my mother: a person of intelligence but with no special knowledge of the product or techniques. My goal was to care for my reader and offer patient understanding, instruction, and examples without a trace of condescension. Simple and clear, lively and interesting.

And occasionally it happened; my mother would end up using the software or product for which I'd written the documentation. And she got it.

 

Selected Instructional Design Projects

The Sedona Method, an eight-module course designed to be self-study with a personal coach's weekly assistance. (The Professional Education Institute)

Jack Canfield's Keys to Living the Law of Attraction, an eight-module course designed to be self-study with a personal coach's weekly assistance. (The Professional Education Institute)

Jack Canfield's Keys to Living the Law of Attraction, a four-module course supplementing an eight-module course for Jack Canfield's The Success Principles, also designed to be self-study with a personal coach's weekly assistance. (The Professional Education Institute)

Microsoft SQL Server Certified Engineer Training materials. Instructor and student materials for the MSCE official curricula; SQL Server 6.5, 7.0, and 2000. (Microsoft)

In and Out of the Classroom with Publisher for Windows 95 (Microsoft)

Macromedia FreeHand 5.0 Fundamentals (Macromedia)

Discover FreeHand 4.0 (Aldus/Adobe)

Discover FreeHand 5.0 (Macromedia)

Discover PageMaker 5.0 (Aldus/Adobe)

Using Works to Track Risks and Publish Risk Assessment Reports (Microsoft)