What I’d said before, more or less, is that “Writing for geeks” is one of the best things I’ve read about writing in quite a long time. Succinct, thought-provoking, accurate, and in places poetic. I particularly liked:

“Writing is an exercise in empathy. We test our writing by forgetting our own hard-won knowledge, positions and interests and reading our work from the perspective of the stranger.” That’s not just smart, it’s wise.

While you wrote these bits & pieces with implicit references to tech writing (“technical drivel,” “what’s said in a meeting” etc.), I think everything you wrote is good advice for writing of all kinds. (“Don’t write to cover your ass,” for instance, is excellent advice for a lot of kinds of writing, including folks like me who work on union newspapers.)

If you have or develop any more distilled observations like these, I’d encourage you to “get them down.” If they accumulate over a a few years, get them published on actual paper somewhere. I could see them in a slim little volume sold near the register at independent bookstores, for instance.

YOU MAY BE SURPRISED TO RECEIVE THIS COMMUNICATION, AS WE HAVE NOT MET BEFORE, EITHER PERSONALLY OR IN A BUSINESS CONNECTION. MY NAME IS WILLIAM STRUNK (THE SECOND), AND I WOULD LIKE TO PUT A PREPOSITION TO YOU THAT WOULD BE TO OUR MUTUAL ADVANTAGE.

AFTER CAREFUL STUDY OF THE RELEVANT TECHNICAL DOCUMENTS, THE GOVERNMENT OF OUR COUNTRY HAS CONCLUDED THAT THERE IS SUBSTANTIAL REVENUE POTENTIAL LOCKED UP IN COUNTLESS PREPOSITIONS THAT FIND THEMSELVES TRAPPED AT THE END OF SENTENCES. A MODEST FEE IS ALL THAT IS REQUIRED TO REMOVE THEM TO A MORE SUITABLE LOCATION, YET THIS APPARENTLY SMALL REVENUE MUST BE MULTIPLIED MANY TIMES OVER DUE TO THE MILLIONS OF TECHNICAL DOCUMENTS GENERATED AT AN EVER-EXPANDING PACE IN EACH AND EVERY YEAR.

I AM CHIEF OF STAFF TO OUR NATION’S MINISTER OF CONSTRUCTION, WHO IS CHARGED WITH IMPLEMENTING THIS PLAN ACCORDING TO ACCEPTED STANDARDS. UNFORTUNATELY, THE MINISTER FOR WHOM I LABOR WOULD NOT KNOW GOOD WRITING IF IT BIT HIM IN THE GERUND. THUS, THE VAST FINANCIAL POTENTIAL OF THIS SCHEME MAY BE IRRETRIEVABLY LOST.

I SEEK A PARTNER WITH COMPLETE DISCRETION, WHO CANNOT BE CONNECTED WITH ME BY ANY CONJUNCTION OR OTHER LEGAL AUTHORITY, WHO COULD MAKE INDEPENDENT CONTACT WITH POTENTIAL BENEFICIARIES OF THIS SERVICE. I HAVE IT ON GOOD AUTHORITY THAT YOU MAY BE JUST SUCH A PERSON.

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YOURS IN GOOD FAITH,
M. KALMAN, ESQ.