Biking is one of my passions.  When I’m on my bike, I feel free and alive. I want to close my eyes, spread my arms, and fly away. However, I don’t want to end up in a ditch, so I’ll just pretend that I am doing it (please see “City of Angels” where Meg Ryan does that and the rest is history).  Biking can teach you a lot about life and writing. Here are ten tips I have learned that have aided my technical writing:

1. Make Sure You Have the Essentials Before You Start Riding

The day is beautiful, and you are ready to get out there and start riding. Before you can do that, you want to ensure that you have a few essential tools – bike pump, water bottles, tire tubes, bike lock, etc. You might think, “It’s only going to be for a little while, so who cares.” You can never be too prepared, so take the extra five or ten minutes to get everything situated before going out there. It’s the same thing with technical writing. Before you start writing, you want to do a few essential tasks:

• Finish your research
• Gather all your interviews
• Review any old and related documentation

In the end, you will save time, and you won’t be stressing out when you begin writing.

2. Learn How to Fix Your Bike If Broken

Accidents do happen, so you want to ensure that you know how to do the basic fixes, like changing a bike tire. It’s the same with technical writing. You want to have a few backups, learn how to troubleshoot the software you are using, and just be ready for any emergencies.  Life is never going to be getting to point ‘A’ to point ‘B’ without having to take a few detours. Therefore, learn to be prepared when changes come your way.

3. You Will Fall When You Go Clipless

I remember the first time I got my clipless pedals, all my biking buddies told me that I would fall. They said, “Don’t try to prevent your fall, just fall with the bike.” For the first few weeks, I became cocky when I didn’t fall. In my mind, I kept telling myself that I knew that I wasn’t going to fall.  The next thing you know, I fell. Yes, you might be an awesome Technical Writer, but do not get overly confident.  When you do that, is when you start making tons of mistakes. You should always be on top of your game. If you do fall, go with it and learn to not do it again.

4. Keep Pedaling Even When You Can’t Pedal Any Longer

You see a big, steep hill approaching, and you brace yourself for the pedaling that you will have to do. When you are halfway up, you are ready to give up, get off the bike, and just walk it up. It happens like that when you are writing a technical documentation or proposal. There are times that you get stuck or the document keeps getting longer and longer. You want to start skipping on important tasks like editing and reviewing. Don’t.  Even though the top of the hill seems like it’s miles away, you will eventually get there.  Usually, you get there faster than you imagined. Continue pedaling, and you will reach your destination. Never give up.

5. Practice Does Make Perfect

You never want to be the slowest one on the bike when you are out there.  The only way for this not to occur is to continue riding. Writing is the same thing. In order to get better and better at it, you have to continue writing. The more you write; the better you will become.

6. If You Fall, Get Right Back Up

In June, I had a bike accident that made me feel a little afraid of getting on the bike.  When I finally got back on the bike two months later, I could see that it had really slowed me down, and I was struggling to get up hills that before would have been a breeze. Not everyone is going to like your work the first time around, so do not get upset and give up if someone critiques you. Hopefully, it is a constructive criticism that can teach you a thing or two.  If it is, then it will make your technical documentation and proposals better. Learn to embrace criticism.

7. Help Each Other Out

One thing that I love about the biking community is how we help one another. If one of us falls, there are always going to be a bunch who will stop and try to assist you in some way. Technical Writers, we need to learn to help one another. We are in this together, and we have chosen a field that not everyone can do. Therefore, we have to be there to lend a helping hand if the other needs it. It will make all of us better technical writers.

8. Don’t Try New Things When Riding on an Organized Bike Ride

Every cyclist knows that you do not introduce new things to your body on the day you are going to be doing some sort of long bike ride.  If it doesn’t agree with you, you will probably miss the entire ride because you’ll be too busy knowing the insides of a Port-A-Potty.  When you are on deadline, do not start getting fancy using programs that you have no idea how to use. You will spend most of your time trying to figure out how to use them than having the time to write. If you want to learn new programs, then do it when you do not have a pressing deadline on the horizons.

9. There Will Always Be Someone Faster Than You, So Learn From Him/Her

It’s not hard to get competitive when someone is faster than you.  You may even feel irritated with the person, even though it’s not his/her fault. No one is the person who knows everything, so you will always find someone who knows a little bit more about a certain area than you do. Instead of feeling an insane amount of jealousy (yes, I was jealous that someone was way faster than me the two times we went riding together), talk to him/her, learn a few things, and apply it to what you are doing. When you have gotten just as good as that person, then you can tweak a few things to get even better.

10. Have A Smile on Your Face

Whenever I bike, I am always smiling. People probably pass by wondering what in the world I am happy about. You have to always be optimistic about everything that you do. Even when you feel that things are getting a little stressful, just know that it is usually a temporary setback. You will be ok in the end.

Happy writing, everyone!

Written by: Shevonne on September 7, 2010.

Tags: biking and writing, biking tips, technical writing lessons