Upcoming Webinar on 14 July: Personality and Writing Style: Playing to Your Strengths

Guest post by Andrea Wenger.

Writing is the heart of technical communication. True, we take on many other tasks as well—information development, content curation, editing, graphic design, videography, usability testing—but most of our jobs, in some way, require us to use the written word to convey information. Our subject matter may be technical, but communication is a creative endeavor, and the process of writing is personal.

In the book Writing and Personality: Finding Your Voice, Your Style, Your Way, authors John K. DiTiberio and George H. Jensen say the following about the writing process:

Troubles with writing often emerge when we abandon the natural processes that come easily to us. Too many writers are “blocked” because they derive their approach mainly from the requirements of the writing task, the person requiring it, or the setting in which it is to be done.

Join me on Wednesday, 14 July for an hour-long Live Web Seminar called Personality and Writing Style: Playing to Your Strengths (click the link for more information and to register).  I’ll explore how the different dimensions of personality affect our preferred writing style:

• Do you prefer gathering information through research and quiet reflection, or by brainstorming with coworkers?
• Do you layer the details to form the big picture, or do you start with a concept, then fill in the facts?
• Do you want to understand the product first, or the audience needs?
• Do you like to finish a project early and get it out of the way, or to keep working right up until the deadline in case new information emerges?

By understanding the natural strengths of your personality type, you can write in the way that works best for you. Further, by understanding the strengths of your nonpreferred functions, you can fill in the gaps in your natural style for a more polished and thorough final product.