We have a couple of tech writers on contract here. I guess I am supposed to be directing them, but I have a hard time doing that, only because they are older than I am and presumably have more experience.

One guy wants to have all three of us discuss style. I guess that is fine, but I guess in this situation, too many cooks would spoil the broth. This one guy who suggested it, I would be happy to discuss with him.

But the other contractor...I gave him a template to use for his writing, and I gave him a list of articles to write. I already knew he was wordy when I saw his samples. I wasn't really comfortable about having him hired. He does old school word processing. Nowadays in Word, after you end a sentence, you only need to type one space after the period. You no longer need to type period-space-space.

So this guy...didn't use my template, writes novels where the summary goes, his steps are like 4 lines long, and he used "it's" in its incorrect form.

GAAAAH

Maybe I am a technical writing snob, after all. I have been looking at candidates and seeing how closely their writing style resembles mine. My work may not be perfect, but it's pretty good!! My biggest flaw is that my writing is too concise, and sometimes I assume the reader knows too much.

Oh, and I have decided I am going to get a new car in 2010. I think I will need that much time to save up. However, my "Check engine" light came on today. I hope it's nothing to worry about because I don't plan on getting it checked out just yet!