I got a call today from someone who was interested in having me work with their company to rewrite all the technical documentation for their products. I won't say who the company is, mostly because if I don't get the deal I don't want to feel embarrassed by meeting people from that company, but it's an interesting idea. Apparently someone I did some editing for at Northwestern's biology department a year or so ago gave my name to someone he consulted for, and hence the call.
I talked to this person for about twenty minutes, and they said that their estimate of the project was about eight months. I'm not sure what I think about that. I've been thinking lately that it might not be a bad idea to have something a little more constant while I free some time to write things that don't involve VFW conventions or mothers of triplets, but then again, it's an independent life I've lived and an independent life I wanted.
One thing that does get to me about writing fairly short newspaper pieces for a whole slew of small papers is that I can't settle in and concentrate on any one thing. The next piece will be different than the last, and probably unrelated. Sure, I could do reporting (or could I?) and specialize in, say, the Board of Trade or City Hall or something. But I don't think I could do that. I generally like what I do, I'd just like for it to be a little more constant. Maybe this technical writing thing would do it.
I actually did write a manual from cover to cover about six years ago. It was for a computer gadget, of all things, and the manufacturer has since gone under, but apparently quite a few people bought it. The neat thing about that was that I also did all the line art for the manual as well as the boxes. It was kind of neat being able to go to a computer store and see these things and know that something I worked on was in there, and was going to be used by people.
Rewriting existing technical documentation, though, is different. Hopefully they won't be too in love with what already exists. Maybe not. If they're asking me to help them rewrite it, it must be that they feel something missing.
I have no idea what to charge for technical writing any more.
Maybe if their product was about to have triplets at a VFW convention....