I’ve always enjoyed writing, but maybe that’s because there is a long history of professional writers in my family. My father was the editor of the first computer magazine in the industry, called Modern Office Procedures and published during the 1970’s. Many of the articles he wrote then are still classics today, and some of them have been reprinted in textbooks. (My favorite article, published 45 years ago in 1974, is entitled “For successful systems, first debug the people problem.” Except for a few archaic references, this article remains current and should be required-reading for anyone rolling out a new IT system in an enterprise.)
My mother is an editor for one of the largest neighborhood newspapers in Southern Texas.
And my late aunt worked most of her professional life as a technical writer and author of textbooks. Later, after earning her Ph.D. she published several scholarly books that remain Amazon bestsellers today.
Technical vs. Creative Writing
When I look back on my writing, it seems to divide naturally into three categories: the bulk of my writing has been technical writing, designed to convey very complicated technical topics to both technical and general audiences. But I also have my fair share of popular writing and creative writing contributions, including some poetry, a not-yet-published children’s book (still waiting for illustrations), as well as the beginnings of a novel.