Writing Club

The Way We Write Now: A technical writing series with exercises for new and working writers

This is a reading and practice group, not a course. Each post covers one topic — craft, tools, process, or career — and ends with an exercise or thought problem. Work through it in order or jump to whatever is relevant now. writingclub Two posts per week, starting Monday, July 6. New and working writers both welcome.

Lessons begin Monday, July 6. Follow along to get each lesson as it publishes.

Follow Along →

Phase 1: Foundation Weeks 1–3

Week 1: What the Job Is

  • 1A: What Technical Writers Actually Do (coming July 7)
  • 1B: Mastering Audience Analysis (coming July 10)

Week 2: Writing Craft

  • 2A: Writing for the F-Pattern (coming July 14)
  • 2B: Plain Language Is Not Dumbing Down (coming July 17)

Week 3: Editing

  • 3A: The Three Tiers of Editing (coming July 21)
  • 3B: The Passive Voice Myth (coming July 24)

Phase 2: Working with People & Structure Weeks 4–5

Week 4: Working with People

  • 4A: The Psychology of the SME (coming July 28)
  • 4B: Review and Approval Workflows (coming July 31)

Week 5: Content Structure

  • 5A: Documentation Frameworks: A Field Guide (coming August 4)
  • 5B: Stop the Sprawl: Information Architecture (coming August 7)

Phase 3: The Modern Toolchain Weeks 6–7

Week 6: Authoring Environments

  • 6A: The Shift to Docs-as-Code (coming August 11)
  • 6B: Choosing Your Authoring Environment (coming August 14)

Week 7: Style & Automation

  • 7A: Enforcing Style Guides Without Being a Cop (coming August 18)
  • 7B: Automated Linting and Consistency Checking (coming August 21)

Phase 4: Process Weeks 8–9

Week 8: Agile & Task Management

  • 8A: Surviving the Two-Week Sprint (coming August 25)
  • 8B: Task Management and Ticket Systems (coming August 28)

Week 9: Metrics & Maintenance

  • 9A: Proving Your Worth: Documentation Metrics (coming September 1)
  • 9B: The Art of Deleting: Content Audits (coming September 4)

Phase 5: Specializations Weeks 10–13

Week 10: API Documentation

  • 10A: API Docs 101: Demystifying REST (coming September 8)
  • 10B: Beyond REST: OpenAPI and Swagger (coming September 11)

Week 11: Developer Documentation

  • 11A: From Git Commits to Release Notes (coming September 15)
  • 11B: Code Samples and Code Comments (coming September 18)

Week 12: UX Writing & Accessibility

  • 12A: Words in the Machine: Intro to UX Writing (coming September 22)
  • 12B: Writing for Everyone: Accessibility (coming September 25)

Week 13: Visual Communication

  • 13A: Visuals That Work (and Don’t) (coming September 29)
  • 13B: Diagrams as Code: Mermaid & Draw.io (coming October 2)

Phase 6: AI Weeks 14–15

Week 14: AI as a Tool

  • 14A: The Writer as Context Owner (coming October 6)
  • 14B: Prompt Engineering for Tech Writers (coming October 9)

Week 15: AI as Subject Matter

  • 15A: Documenting AI and Non-Deterministic Software (coming October 13)
  • 15B: Metadata and Taxonomy (coming October 16)

Phase 7: Scale & Strategy Weeks 16–17

Week 16: Scalable Documentation

  • 16A: Write Once, Publish Everywhere (coming October 20)
  • 16B: Modular Docs and the Philosophy of DITA (coming October 23)

Week 17: Global Strategy

  • 17A: Writing for Translation and Localization (coming October 27)
  • 17B: The Technical Writer as Strategist (coming October 30)

Phase 8: Career Week 18

Week 18: Career Development

  • 18A: Building the NDA-Proof Portfolio (coming November 3)
  • 18B: Contracting vs. Full-Time (coming November 6)