This year I encountered the phrase “career dysmorphia”. I think I have this! Ever since going freelance, I have struggled to value my own achievements and see how much I’ve grown. I find that writing these yearly wrap-ups help me to see that I’ve worked HARD all year.

Open source

TYPO3

  • Continued with TYPO3 Association as a Community Member.
  • Contributed in the Content Team as an editor and writer.
  • Was less active this year in the Documentation Team.

The Good Docs project

  • Rejoined this project as a Steering Committee member, and contributed across a number of working groups
  • Created the Core Strategy for the project. (This effort was sponsored by OSP).
  • Helped establish the blog and wrote some posts.
  • Joined the Template Style working group and helped audit the templates as a member of the style task force.
  • Handled social media for Twitter and LinkedIn.

Writing & Editing

Editing

I leaned into editing this year. Here’s what I did:

  • Joined the Institute of Professional Editors (IPEd)
  • Tested myself with the IPEd sample exams (I may sit the accreditation exam next time around).
  • Took the Udemy course, Editing Mastery: How To Edit Writing To Perfection by Shani Raja.
  • Read and listened to as many editing resources as I could.
  • Started writing about editing on Hashnode. (which I decomissioned in August, 2023)
  • Broadened my editor network on LinkedIn. I reached out to folks, created connections, responded to posts and was generally more present and active there.
  • Engaged more on Twitter with the hashtash #amediting.
  • Created the #tech-editing channel on Write the Docs.
  • Wrote about the OSP editing codes.
  • Failed an editing trial and subsequently discovered where my strengths lie.
  • Discovered Foster. Joined as a contributor and hope to be more involved in the collective during 2023.

Writing

I wrote a lot more this year.

  • Wrote more posts on my own site about tech writing and web3.
  • Got published in code:words on Medium.
  • Got featured by Hashnode.
  • Joined the effort to co-write (with an impressive bunch of tech writers) the 2nd edition of the popular book, Technical Writing Process, by Kieran Morgan.

Videos

I made some recordings to become more comfortable speaking in front of the camera. I’m still trying to find my authentic voice. I know it’s in there somewhere!

I consume a lot of content and often find connections between different things. I made one video about that - on the topic of tech writing portfolios. The first of many such videos?

I wanted to record real-time reviews of other people’s writing. I ended up concentrating on just a few key writing principles per post, and these turned into ‘positivity passes’. I created a series called blogstars.

Events

  • Evaluated submissions for the Write the Docs Australia conference. I also volunteered on the conference committee - managing the Writing Day
  • activities. I thoroughly enjoyed it and hope to help out again next year.
  • Got accepted to speak at the next IPEd conference.
  • Discovered the Everything Open conference happening in Melbourne next year.
  • Created (with help from my colleagues at OSP) a handy one-pager for podcasts and events.

Open Strategy Partners

I spent another year working with Open Strategy Partners. I continued to learn about communication strategy, said hello and goodbye to some great colleagues, and enjoyed working in the space of authentic comms.