Communication
Technical Writing or Report writing has all of the same goals as any novel: to be read, enjoyed and recommended to be read by someone else, and someone else and someone else. . .
The place where non-technical writers fail miserably is when trying to create a technical document and having little understanding of their topic. One cannot simply “fill-in” a story around big scientific, engineering, or medical words and concepts. The document needs a spirit that will talk to, not at, the reader. Think of the last time you tried to follow an instruction-sheet for something like a new “set-back thermostat.”
MA Sala is an Engineering Physicist, a scientist, that knows how to talk to people; can simultaneously be a geek and the life of the party. Can take your technical, scientific, medical documents and breathe into it a life so, at the end, there will be no question as to its mission, design or application.
Typical applications are:
- Pre-patent Application – the document that the inventor gives to the Patent Agent or attorney. Although highly competent at their trade, patent attorneys can be profoundly non-technical, and if you don’t spell it out, they may not ask and you will lose potential patent rights.
- Lectures - I will either write or write and deliver.
- Engineering Reports – why something failed, worked or should be done
- Service Manuals – how to fix something when you weren't lucky enough to have the “inside-track” at the factory
- Project Proposals – “I want to do this project, but here is why you need to fund me”
- Failure Analysis – It broke and here’s why and how we can prevent it from happening again
- Testimony – Convincing a non-technical audience that someone is or is not at fault for a loss of life, limb or property due to design, maintenance or criminal negligence
- Policy and Procedure – This-is-why-we-do-it-this-way and this is how you will do it. An example is JACHO in the hospital environment or How to Clean the Ultrasonic Disrupter, V1
- User’s Manuals – How to properly and effectively operate a tool, machine, device or system
- This list is non-exhaustive.
An estimate is free for the asking; a contract proposal, depending on complexity, may incur a fee.
A nondisclosure form must be signed-off before any work is completed.
Rate is typically $150/hour - for non-contract situations.