Essay Online

Many people dream of writing their own book. The sad fact is that for every 500 people who want to write a book, there might be only 1 or 2 who actually do it. Somehow, we get it stuck in our minds that we “can never do that” and that writing “should be left to the professionals”. Nothing could be further from the truth! I am 100% convinced that anyone … even YOU, can write a book successfully if they just understand a couple of basic principles. In this article, I’m going to cover the exact steps that anyone, including you, can use to write a book, essay, or article of any length.

Step 1 &ndash Collect

Collect what? Collect everything. If you are writing nonfiction you will collect information about your topic. You might collect magazine clippings, newspaper articles, along with various notes and quotes from any variety of sources. You might also collect things like sights, sounds (record audio), and smell (take notes about how things smell). If you’re writing a novel the things you collect will be differ a little from this. Instead you’ll collect thoughts, ideas, character ideas, and scene ideas, along with any information (similar to the above) that involves research for your novel. If you’re writing a crime novel you might collect information above the criminal justice system. If you’re writing a romance you might collect notes and ideas from relationship books, dating websites, and your own relationships and experience. The important thing to do is to collect, and to do nothing but collect at this phase. Don’t analyze stuff; don’t try to figure out the order of things too early. Just collect!

Step 2 &ndash Categorize

In this step, you are free to unleash your inner control freak. Organize, categorize, analyze, criticize, hypothesize… I think you get the point. The whole purpose of this stage is to take what you collected in the previous stage and organize it into an order that makes sense. Read the articles and books, sift your notes down to the finest details, and sort it all out into related areas that make sense together. Once you have the related areas grouped together, put those “categories” into an order from first to last. If you have a ton of notes and other collected stuff, don’t stress about trying to tackle the whole pile at once. Just take part of it, and work on ONLY that part until you have it organized and sorted. Then grab some more notes and do the same thing with those. You can add to either if you need to later. Once you have everything analyzed, described, and sorted you can then move on to the third step in the process.

Step 3 &ndash Communicate

This is the fun part! This is simply the act of actually communicating everything that you’ve put together from the first two steps. In other words, write it down! The sorted, organized collection that you have from steps one and two is now your outline. All you have to do is follow your notes in order and write about each note and topic in turn. If you have your notes broken in to sub-categories, treat each one as a book in itself. This allows you to focus on just one small part at a time rather than trying to tackle an entire book all at once. Just get through one section, and then, move on to the next.

If you have done this right, by step 3 your book is practically written for you.

“What about grammar?” Here’s a little secret about grammar and punctuation: 90% of your grammar and punctuation problems will go away if you will keep your writing (and by writing, I mean your sentences) short, concise, and to the point. Keep it short. Keep it simple. The best writers aren’t the ones who have sentences three paragraphs long. The best writers are those who can get the same information across in just a few words&ndashno matter how complex the topic might be. As for novels, if you can “move” people with 5 words as opposed to 50, you are doing a great thing.

Knowing and applying these simple steps can be the difference between having a dream of writing a book and having a stack of books that you’ve written. I have written five books so far using this method.

You’ve just learned one of the easiest systems of writing in existence. Whether you’re 40 years old or 10 years old you can use these steps to accomplish just about any writing task that is set before you. Go ahead and try it and you’ll see. Your new writing career starts now!

The User-Product Life Cycle (U-PLC) is a powerful tool for the User Document writer. Use the U-PLC to generate the high-level topics for your User Document.

THE USER-PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE (U-PLC)

Usually, when we think of a Product Life Cycle, we think in terms of the development and production of the Product itself. When writing User Documentation, consider the U-PLC to help you generate all the topics necessary for a complete document. User Documentation should support your Users in all of their interactions with the product.

The User-Product Life Cycle refers to the full range of interactions between the User and the Product itself. This is more than simply “how to use the product.” As you will see below, “Use the Product” is only one stage in the U-PLC.

STAGES IN THE U-PLC

Here are the stages IN the U-PLC (assuming that the User as acquired the Product):

– U-P LC Stage: Transport the Product to its working location

– U-P LC Stage: Unpack the Product

Transport and Unpacking of the product are listed here just for completeness. These are currently displayed on the packaging itself, usually in pictorial form, and do a good job.

– U-P LC Stage: Overall knowledge about the Product.

This is information that is presented to the User early in the User Documents.

Topics here include safety, legal, and disclaimers related to the product.

The description of the product should indicate how the product may change the way that the User currently does things. For example, an analog voice recorder will require the User to listen to all the stored items to find a particular one; a digital voice recorder will enable the User to quickly jump from one message to another.

– U-P LC Stage: Set up or Install the Product

* Environments

It is important for the writer to think of the various environments where the product will exist. For example, how should a computer program be installed in a Windows, Mac, or Linux environment?

“Environments” includes other things that the product must work with. For example, how should a DVD player be installed in a system currently composed of a TV and a VCR? How about installation to a TV & VCR system where the TV has only one video input?

* User Capabilities.

The capabilities required for the User to set up the product are also important. Since the assumptions related to the User for set up may be different from the assumptions about the User in using the product, the wise writer will present the skills (and perhaps regulations) needed to set up the product. A section entitled “Can You Set Up This Product?” will enable the User to make the decision about whether to set the product up themselves, or find outside help.

For example, suppose the product is an electrical light dimmer that is intended to replace the light switch in the User’s home. Using the product merely requires adjusting the dimmer’s single control to set the desired light level. Installing the product requires experience with home electrical wiring–does the User have these capabilities?

Sometimes, the limitation may be legal. In some jurisdictions — Quebec, Canada, for example — only qualified electricians are permitted to install or modify electrical circuits in the home. Thus in Quebec, the general User of the dimmer will not be able to (legally) install the light dimmer.

– U-P LC Stage: Use the Product

This component is the focus of most User Documentation. It should contain at least these three sub-topics:

- Starting the product

- Actual Use of the product

For most products “Actual Use” is the central focus of the User Document.

Ideally, this should be divided into basic or common product functions, and advanced functions. A good example is photo-editing software. Most Users want to crop, rotate, and adjust the brightness and contrast of the image. These are basic functions. More advanced functions might be combining the parts of one picture with another.

- Shutting down the product

Is there any maintenance to be done at shut down? List it here and in the “Maintain” section.

– U-P LC Stage: Maintain the Product

Consider breaking this down into time periods, such as: after each use, weekly, monthly, yearly, as applicable.

– U-P LC Stage: Move the Product

For a computer software program, how the User should move the program and its data to another computer; computer users often upgrade their computer hardware. While it is often assumed that the User should re-install the product on the new computer, there always is the question about moving the data related to the product: where is it located, and how should it be moved so the newly-installed program can recognize it on the new computer?

For a physical product, are there any special considerations in moving the Product to another location?

– U-P LC Stage: Discard the Product or its By-Products

Here I would like to mention only selling the used product. It might be wise to mention that by keeping the User Manual, the seller may find it easier to sell, and possibly get a higher price, for the used product.

USING THE U-PLC IN YOUR WRITING

As you generate the topics for your User Document make sure that you keep the U-PLC in mind. Ensure that you include topics in your User Document Outline to assist your User in all phases of the U-PLC.

Great User Documents can assist in the UP-LC section that I did not present here: acquisition of the product. Your marketing department may be able to use your GREAT User Document as part of its marketing campaign.