Editor's Message

by Alliene Turner

Alliene is an EBSTC Senior Member and long-time East Bay resident.She also runs an online bookstore, http://turnerbookstore.com.

Welcome back.Happy New Decade! My local paper ran an amusing article titled "What's in the cards for 2010?" The article presents a special reading of tarot cards for the coming year by fortune teller Pam Curry.

In a nutshell, the cards told Curry that Tiger Woods won't be able to save his marriage, that unemployment will still be a problem, and those investing in the stock market are advised to do so with caution. More positively, though, the swine flu won't pose a big problem, the drought will end, and the Bay Area is in no danger of a major earthquake.

Like any good soothsayer, Curry ended her reading by reminding us that "destiny is in your hands." My wish is that our destinies brings each of us all that we need and at least a little of what we want.

This issue, we again have several guest contributors, in addition to the Write on Time Solutions regular column.

Michelle Corbin, an Associate Fellow of STC who works at IBM, and Yoel Strimling, a member of STC Israel, offer best practices for editing modular documentation. This lengthy article will run in two parts. Part 1 describes the mechanics of modularization and best practices for editing modular documentation. Part 2 will describe the editor's role in creating modular documentation.

EBSTC senior member Melody Brumis and EBSTC President Adrienne Tange, co-owners of Write on Time Solutions, offer tips that they picked up as new business owners. In this issue, Melody looks back at the jobs that Write on Time Solutions completed in 2009 and lists all the things that technical communicators do.

Ellis Pratt of Cherryleaf Technical Authors in Twickenham, United Kingdom, gives us six reasons why our wikis may not be working.

Thanks to Susan Moxley who did a great job editing the articles, and Joe Humbert who published them in our award-winning newsletter format. My New Year's wish is that more local members contribute articles to DMV. The next deadline is early February 2010. Please send your articles or ideas for articles to me at hairston.turner@gmail.com.