You Can’t See Me, and I Like it Like That

No new emails? Figures.

I am a technical writer who works at home full-time. I am often forgotten or ignored by subject matter experts (SMEs) when it comes to meetings or getting answers to my emails because I live hundreds of miles away, and colleagues never see me in person.

I have a presentation called “The Invisible Writer.” Some writers come to the presentation thinking I’ll discuss how to get SMEs to pay attention to them and cooperate with them within the office. I know these issues are present when working in the same building as the SMEs too, but I have a different perspective now.

Don’t get me wrong—being “invisible” in the corporate world has its perks. I enjoy wearing comfortable, casual clothing everyday. I can get up and go to my desk without quickly having to wash up, change into clothes, and rush out the door into traffic. (Mind you, I DO wash up and change clothes—I just don’t have to do it before noon if I don’t feel like it.) I don’t get lonely, wishing I had co-workers around me, and I don’t have a lot of distractions at home.

I never heard of technical writing until my third year of college, but I have always loved writing, and English was my best subject in high school. I liked creating short stories, and one year, I passed around a composition notebook so that my friends and I could take turns writing scenes for a fictional soap opera. It was a hit with us!

Trips: I’m Used to Going it Alone

I haven’t blogged much lately because I’ve been traveling so much, and submitting everything I write to publications.  Today I just got back from Newark, I was in Houston speaking at the Blacke Student Summit 2 weeks ago, and before that? Well, that was actually a pleasure trip to Las Vegas, and as usual, I was alone–but not lonely.

I’m attaching an article I wrote on the way back from Vegas (this is the short version) from a paper local.

I got some nice emails from people saying that they admired my bravery and willingness to do such a thing. After all, I took a 5-hr plane ride across the country with just one bag of luggage and a camera, and spent a week hanging out.

Have you traveled a long distance before, just for fun, alone?