That story underscores the reason why I do this every year. We writers have value. Our skills serve a need, and we add much to the client's business or image.

Whenever I try to put something together and the directions actually work — I am grateful for good technical writing. Diagrams with no words do nothing for me.

Seriously — "write well" and "learn" are so important, both in your specialty and in general. Too many people think writing is "easy" and the quality doesn't matter. But good writing can change perception, and that's what we're hired to do.

One other thing a good technical writer can do for the client? Limit the likelihood of being sued.

When I was a kid, my dad was a technical artist who hand-rendered exploded view drawings for owners manuals. (His company made farm systems – our favorite was the "liquid manure spreader," because it made us laugh.) This was way before computers were used for this kind of thing, so he also did the layout. One time he had to rework the layout because the technical writer wanted to add a common sense safety instruction. Something about making sure the ladder was secured before climbing it. When my dad complained that it would throw off the layout on several pages, the writer told him about a company that was sued by someone who'd been inured because the operator's manual didn't remind them to follow basic safety procedures. While you can't prove that the writer saved the company from any future lawsuits, including that step greatly reduced the odds of a lawsuit. (Or as Lori might say, he mitigated the risk.)

"The sad reality of my trade is no one reads our work for enjoyment or entertainment, but of necessity. Even the companies that employ the technical writer, look upon their work as a necessary evil at best and quite often try to have the work done as cheaply as possible."

And isn't that true of all writing? What I love about this post is how you go into the ways we writers (not just technical writers, either) can build in value that clients can see and appreciate.