April 2004 (Volume 15 Number 7) About the Quill

In This Issue

President's Message

One of the benefits of being the president is being able to surprise someone with an award. Read this article to find out about this deserving individual. More

Nominations

Just say you will participate in next year's council, and we can stop writing articles about needing volunteers. More

Wine and Cheese

No one whined and no one said "cheez" while they were at our March general meeting. There was nothing to complain about and much to celebrate. More

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

We have all heard about it, but do we actually understand what it is and how to prevent it? More

Adventures in Translation

In the first in a series of articles, Margie talks about how to find the right vehicle for your translation project. More

News from England

Nancy Halverson reports on her progress at work, as well as setting up a meeting, relaxing at home, and understanding some 'quirks' in the Queen's English. More

April History

Find out what happened in April over the years. More

Upcoming Events

There's always something new happening in our chapter. See which events might interest you. More

London Event

Our London Student Chapter is offering its first annual professional development event. More

Changing Your Orientation

Patrick introduces us to the international market where it is necessary to think about the orientation of text on paper and online documentation, in addition to the content. More

Fellowships

Find out which two people will be receiving awards and what they did to receive them. More

Student and Medical Writer

It says something about our profession when even dentists want to become technical writers. More

CIC: Collecting Fees

You have to believe that you're worth it. Find out what people suggest you do to help collect outstanding payments. More

Worst Manual

We can all be confident that this article is not about something that we have written. It does, however, demonstrate just how bad documentation can be. More

STC Head Office

With so many people receiving awards, it shouldn't be a surprise that the STC has won an award of its own. More

The Editor's Message

Time Flies

I can't believe it is April already. It seems like just yesterday that I started working on the first issue of The Quill. I still feel like there is so much to learn, but Opal (my technical advisor) has set me up with a template with instructions embedded into it, like "".

Still, I do know enough to get rid of the Microsoft tags that are left in articles that were written in Word, even after much of the Microsoft code has been stripped using the Textism Web site. In fact, Opal and Margie (my copy editor) nearly had a party when there were only two small changes that they had to make before the newsletter could be published last month. I guess maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks. Of course, I wrote this article before I finished the rest of the newsletter, so when I struggled to get some graphics and tables to work, my confidence about putting this month's newsletter together with only two errors started to slip.

Award Winners

I guess I had to write that first paragraph to indicate that I may have accomplished something too, because the articles in this newsletter are full of stories about people who have accomplished a lot. There are stories about student winners, competition winners, and award winners (both on an individual and organizational level). With the quality of the people in the Southwestern Ontario chapter (and those who were once in this chapter), it shouldn't have surprised me that there could be so many award stories in one month.

Achievers

There are also stories about people trying something new. There is someone who made a career change to technical writing and there is the young London chapter that is offering an event for technical communicators.

Philosophy 101

Can anyone ever be a loser when they step outside their comfort zone? Some of us are losing more than we will ever know by not giving something new a try. Volunteering is one way to expand your horizons.

Send your questions or comments to me, Debbie, at quill@stc-soc.org

Creating and supporting a forum for communities of practice in the profession of technical communication