The right to remain silent

The kid that wound up doing the homework for the bully at school, the employee that showed up and worked hard, got called in the middle of the night to work overtime for free, and was forgotten or gone at raise time--that was me, for a very long time.

A few things happened to change that

• Lost my "safe" job as a programmer and was blacklisted
• Survived on consulting jobs as a programmer and technical writer
• Discovered microcomputers, just as they were being commercialized
• Found software contracting
• A few years on, a great boss "discovered" me and positioned me well in his company
• Finished my BA, and did the MSEE at a top university, while working for the great boss
• Started consulting nationally as a software engineer and trouble shooter
• Years later, finished the PhD in computer science, and became a professor
• I became a federal researcher in Washington, where I wrote and wrote and wrote

I never wrote the Great American Novel, nor selected projects driven by my own passions. The projects were dictated by others. In government, there were always white papers, backgrounders, summaries, proposals, papers, reviews, that had to be written on a deadline. Eventually, I learned techniques for writing what had to be written, quickly, with organization and clarity. 

A business person who had a story to tell, and no particular writing skill, asked me to write a book for a fee. The client became the author of the book, and I signed a non-disclosure agreement, stating that I wouldn't take credit for it, or disclose who had written it, which is a conventional arrangement for ghosted projects. That project awakened my sleeping ghost writer, and opened a very productive chapter in my life.

Now I do contract software projects, writing projects, and online teaching.

I interview and research to rough out the story, organize it to identify the isolated patches that can't be reached from what I already know, and go back to ask the stupid questions. From there, I tell the story as clearly as possible. Some projects go from concept to publication; some only go as far as outlining, or writing the first draft. 

You cannot hear my voice in the work, or see me on talk shows. But often I am proud to have taken a hand in a project that becomes a success.

I am the ghost in the machine, and I have the right to remain silent, and silently to move on to the next project.