Create your online presence: Building blog cred.

Last time I wrote about how to become an “expert” blogger. Really, it’s a war of attrition: if you have 100 blog posts over a year or a year and a half, that’ll give you the credibility you want. But there are thousands, if not millions of bloggers populating the Web 2.0 blogosphere. Sure, you can always put your blog on your resume, but how do you stand out so that people actually care what you have to say?

To offer a solution to this problem, I’ve decided to use the acronym CFC to describe actions you can take to build your Web cred. I know it’s not a perfect acronym to use because of the whole global warming thing, but here’s what I’ve come up with: just like how CFCs are affecting the atmosphere, you’ll be affecting the blogosphere.

I know, it’s a crummy analogy. But bear with me.

Consistency
Be consistent in posting. Post two or three times a week, and you’ll have 100 posts in a year. Post blog entries with consistent themes. Consistently have guest bloggers post little entries on your blog. Write consistently well. Consistently read other good blogs, and consistently have friends give you constructive criticism on your writing.

Following
Publicly follow the blogs you read, and make comments on the posts you read. Here’s why this is important: when people comment on my blog, I notice them. If you’re writing a public blog, that means that your writing is meant to be read, and when you get those indicators that people are reading and thinking about your work, it feels good. Just like how you’d enjoy sincere and thought-filled comments on your blog, the bloggers you read feel the same. And often, when you follow them and actively comment on their blogs, they’ll take a look at your blog and comment there. If you’ve got good content, they’ll recommend your blog to their own blogging buddies. It’s like how Ellen DeGeneres follows several Twitter accounts of her own readers every week. Bloggers love celebrity, and they might even bounce some of it back to you if you stand out as a solid follower.

Cooperate
Find friends in your major who are also blogging and encourage them. Follow each other. Comment on each other’s blogs. Write guest posts for each other. This is the networking age, and finding success today is dependent on who you know. If you help out your fellow bloggers, they’ll help you and put in a good word for you when they have success. It all comes around.

100 blog posts.

My professor and classmates recently returned from their New York expedition (the one I didn’t go on, but hey, I’m not bitter) and they brought back some neat tips to get an internship as a writer. Here’s what I want to mention today. When Jodi, a classmate, and other students spoke to a company about internships, the company asked to see their blogs. Jodi gave them the reference for the blog she maintained for a class. She was one of a few students had a blog. Obviously, this gave her an edge.

Here’s what my professor has to say about this: if you write a blog about technical writing or some other aspect of the industry, you can consider yourself an expert. So what should professional writing students do? Write. Write a blog and update it regularly. By the time you graduate, you’ll have built a blog and a reputation, and you’ll be very employable.

This means choosing a specific but deep topic for your blog. This deserves a post for itself, but for now, I’ll say to find something you’re interested in that has a lot of different aspects you could explore through blog posts.

This is one of those things I’d wish I’d started when I began working on my degree over 100 credit hours ago. If I had started then, I’d have over two years of blog experience and the associated street cred that goes with it.

I’ll talk more about building your reputation in my next post, but for right now, go write your blog.

Developing a voice

I consider myself an essayist rather than a technical writer. When I write in my free time, I don’t write manuals on how to use my cell phone or reports detailing the strengths and weaknesses of a new program; instead, I write personal nonfiction essays. The more I write, the more my writing voice develops.

Voice is something that most writers associate with creative writing. Hemingway has a voice, Faulkner has a voice, McCarthy has a voice; every writer has a voice, and the most enduring writers have distinct voices which set them apart from the masses. Novelists and other “literati” (to borrow a term from one of my professors) rely on a unique, likeable voice for their livelihood.

But a unique voice isn’t something that only creative writers need. Technical writers need to develop their voices, too. There’s a lot more room for individuality and voice in tech writing than you might believe. Here are some tips to develop your voice.

1. Use a normal vocabulary. Whether you’re writing a recommendation report or a help file for the latest version of a program, choose words that the audience will be familiar with and understand. While there is some temptation in technical/professional writing to try to sound “science-y” and smart, using flashy words more often than not makes you sound pompous and irritating. A good voice carries readers through a document from start to finish and doesn’t drive them away. Here’s the rule I live by: if I wouldn’t use a word in a conversation with my friends, don’t use it when I write unless no other word will work.
   
   
2. Read what you write out loud. This relates to your vocabulary, but also involves sentence structure. Again, in the attempt to maintain the objective tone needed for much of technical/professional writing, some writers will adopt a bureaucratic voice. Overuse of prepositional phrases, passive voice, and utter confusing are some of signs you’re writing too much like a government official and that your audience will have no idea what you’re talking about. How to overcome this? Read your sentences out loud. If you read what you’ve written out loud and it flows naturally, you’re probably using a good voice. Remember, technical and professional documents are meant to be read and understood. You can sound professional without sounding bureaucratic.
   
   
3. Read technical and professional writing. Read help documents and take note of what works and what doesn’t. Read the manual for your remote control and figure out how confusing phrases could be reworded for clarity. And read technical/professional writing blogs to get tips on how to improve your own writing while exposing yourself to more good writing. The more good writing you read, the more your voice will naturally improve.

As a final note, I’ve updated the links to other blogs on my sidebar. Go ahead and check them out; they’re all full of great tips and ideas.

Some more resume tips.

Lifehacker has a good article about five simple ways you can improve your resume. Some tips are original; other tips are from various Web sites. Here's one of my favorites to get started, a tip I often give to students who come into the Writing Center with their own resumes:

List the details of every job, including every possible relevant accomplishment at each one. List every organized activity you've ever participated in, and every noteworthy honor you've received in your life. List everything.

Start your resume writing process by listing absolutely everything you might ever want on your resume, then clean it up from there. This is actually how I write when I have the time. It works.

Check out the rest of the tips here.
http://lifehacker.com/5042344/rebuild-your-resume-with-five-simple-fixes

Resume Formatting

The resume templates in MS Word are all right if you're turning in a sample resume to your high school English teacher. But employers recognize templates immediately, and that's why it's important to make a resume design that's all your own.

Today I've got some tips on how to use Microsoft Word to format a resume. Here's the secret behind simple, fast, and effective formatting: tables.

Tables make resume design a piece of cake. You'll see why as you go through this post and try it out. First, open a new MS Word document, click the "Insert" tab on the ribbon, click "Table", then choose a three-column table with as many rows as you can.

Next, let's merge some cells. Highlight a few cells, right click, then click "Merge Cells."

You can see that merging the cell creates one big cell across the table. You can use this big cells for headings, description information, etc. It's great.

Another bonus of tables is that formatting across the table is easy. Want that date and location right-aligned, but the actual position left? Not a problem. Take a look at my sample resume-in-progress:

Once you've got everything formatted, let's work on those  borders. Highlight all your cells, then click "Design" on the ribbon, then click "Borders." Select "No Borders" at first.

Without borders, your table looks more like a familiar resume. Add a border below the heading, or add one to separate sections. You can also adjust the spacing between cells. Here's my finished product:

Easy, simple, and clean. And it's not a template, either. Another cool thing about using templates is that changing the format is simple. Check this out:

 With tables, resumes are fun! Play with it and try out a few different designs. See what you like.

Auditing is your friend.

Last semester, I discovered the beautiful art of auditing classes. Due to a lack of academic guidance and changing my minor four times, I have about 60 credits of class that don't count toward my degree. This meant I needed to petition to overstay my university's 140-credit limit, which I did, but this also meant I wouldn't be able to take any more classes for fun.

Or so I thought.

Then I found out what auditing is. To audit a class means to take it without receiving any credit. This also means you are not responsible for assignments or attendance(!). What's better, this means that I can take all of those extra writing classes I've wanted to enjoy but don't either (1) have the time to do the homework for, or (2) want to go every day.

My goal with auditing my classes is to have another minor's worth of courses done before graduation in April. There is a temptation not to go to class, so you have to be self-motivated and disciplined. Still, if you want to relax and soak up knowledge without the bureaucracy holding you back with things like grades or actually showing up every day, auditing's great.

Internships. New York, here I stay.

Just a quick shout out to my friends who will be going to New York this week on an internship expedition. Apparently, it takes more than just talking to the right people, so congrats to those who are going. I just wanted to make a shhort note on the importance on internships again, especially in today's economy. Bookjobs.com has a great listing of writing-related internships and jobs. I can't stress the importance of internships to gain experience and get a foot in the door for finding a career.

Also, check out this old post about internships:
Intern at Home