Writing

Technical Writer and Editor, WhiteHat Security, San Jose, CA (part-time contract), April 2016 – August 2019

  • Drafted and published weekly release notes to US and EU customers for all internal- and customer-facing changes, explaining new or updated features simply and clearly while maintaining brevity
  • Research, created, edited, and published customer-facing documents
  • Maintained and updated online Help system and Knowledge Base
  • Copyedited and proofread documents to ensure clarity and consistency in voice, language, and presentation
  • Performed an initial audit of the Sentinel help system and all customer-facing documentation and catalogued associated issues as discovered
  • Created all help documentation and tool tips used for the Sentinel Scout product

Freelance Editor and Writer, 1985 – present

  • Wrote five published books under various pen names, plus articles, short stories, and booklets
  • Generated ideas, performed research, and wrote presentations, reports, executive summaries, proposals, and articles on a wide range of technical and popular topics
  • Helped clients decide what information must be conveyed, including assumptions and background knowledge unfamiliar to their audience, and translated the data into clear prose
  • Created graphs, tables, and process charts for Sarbanes-Oxley requirements
  • Wrote book proposals, press releases, and advertisements
  • Coordinated projects with marketing consultants, engineers, scientists, authors, editors, vendors, and literary agents
  • Adapted style to target B2B, consumer, and peer audiences

Senior Writer and Web Content Manager, Various, Inc., February 2007 – March 2008

  • Hired, trained, supervised, and scheduled staff of five working two shifts
  • Researched, commissioned, edited, scheduled, and posted new content (fiction, nonfiction, video, and still photograph) for daily uploads
  • Organized a database of more than 40,000 images, including information on their creators, models, subjects, sources, documentation, and content
  • Created marketing collateral for website, including taglines, teasers, and twice-monthly newsletter for users
  • Served as main contact with site users, including managing user discontent caused by two separate buy-outs and consequent disruptions of user experience
  • Worked with technical teams to keep content flowing in an environment of undocumented proprietary site software, data migrations, software upgrades, web hosting upgrades, and network issues
  • Managed budget for outsourced content and served as liaison and quality control for content vendors
  • Maintained accurate, up-to-date database of key legal information
  • Initiated, created, reviewed, and documented procedures for all of the above

Technical Writer, Spectrum Technical Services, International, April 2005 – December 2006

  • Documented methods and procedures for all phases of disaster recovery (including preparation, testing, declaration, and post-disaster business continuity) for a major telecommunications company
  • Designed user interface and logic flow for new interactive data-collection program
  • Analyzed workflows, created Visio process flows, and improved business processes
  • Designed and created new web site for combined business units, including writing new content and redesigning web forms
  • Standardized and documented data center hardware acquisition and installation procedures
  • Worked as project lead for development and testing phases of the data center project

Technical/Marketing Writer, Genealogy.com, January 2002 – June 2003

  • Created key direct-marketing documents to launch an industry-leading membership program that increased subscription sales by 33%
  • Consistently surpassed sales projections for customer e-mails, keyword landing pages, and sales copy for weekly promotions
  • Part of the creative and marketing team that grew overall sales 18% in 2002 and 36% in Fall of 2002
  • Grew subscriber base by 22% in 2002
  • Crafted weekly promotional and informative e-mails, as well as core marketing statements, banner ads, SEO strategies, and product copy
  • Using RoboHelp and Visual SourceSafe, wrote, edited, and maintained user documentation and program help for top-selling consumer software and web site applications
  • Worked with marketing, engineers, UI designers, and web editors/designers to create accurate, compelling text

Copywriter, Haworth Press, Inc, 2000 – 2001

  • Wrote eye-catching headlines and effective advertising copy for print and Web-based catalogues, working from marketing questionnaires, manuscripts, or just a table of contents
  • Tailored copy to appeal to markets ranging from agronomy professors to tattoo enthusiasts
  • Created persuasive direct-mail letters targeted at libraries, professionals, and academics
  • Wrote, edited, and proofread press releases, new-book announcements, journal blurbs, and cover copy
  • Helped maintain FileMaker database and online catalogue with HTML coding
  • Earned two raises and a special year-end bonus in first nine months
  • Company sales increased by 10% in the first year I worked there

The greatest thing
in the world
is the Alphabet
as all knowledge
is contained therein
except the wisdom
of putting it together.
—from an old German bookplate

Copyright Lynn Kendall © 2000-2015. All Rights Reserved. Unless otherwise noted, NASA is the source of all still images. This does not not explicitly or implicitly convey NASA's endorsement of my opinions, ideas, or services.

Designed by Lynn Kendall.