The Joys of Teaching Engineers to Write
An editing colleague saw that I specialize in teaching engineers and scientists to write, and she asked me some provocative questions, and then asked if I would turn it into a blog post. I would be happy to answer if you have any further questions—please find me on LinkedIn. Q: Why would an editor want to teach engineers to write? Because it’s so much fun! Engineers are extremely thoughtful, always looking at a problem from a number of angles, and challenging dogmatic ideas. This matches my own approach to life and to language, so I love discussing English with engineers. Conversations with high-IQ people are great. You just won’t get the same level of analysis from a room full of literature majors, who have been trained in a completely different way of thinking. I love the engineering approach to language. Engineers are taught to invent, to innovate, to question. And isn’t that essentially exactly the same process editors go through when they edit? Ergo, if you ask me, editors