I’m Spencer Pennington, a technical writer at iFixit. I’m also an adjunct instructor at Chattanooga State Community College, where I teach Composition 1, and a daily editor for the Southern Review of Books.

You could just scroll through the blog to see what it’s all about, but I’ll tell you, too: It’s about technical writing and fiction writing, my job as a writer and my job teaching composition, part diary and part braindump, learning Photoshop and running company social media accounts, going to therapy and going for runs.

This is about my fourth attempt at a blog. Every time, I pigeonhole myself into writing about just one part of my life. For this one, I think I’ll open it up to anything.

Here are a few of my favorite projects, from college until now, in reverse order:

  • HP 15-fc0000 Series Display Panel Replacement. This is the most difficult guide I wrote for my first set of guides as a technical writer. I know, this isn’t exactly what you expect to see when you hear “technical writer” nowadays, but it’s what I do. I’m proud of this because it represents jumping into something entirely new, and coming out okay. I’ve made some progress, too — you can see all the guides I’ve written on my iFixit profile.

  • Lights & Shadows vol. 62. I had the privilege of designing and editing this edition of the University of North Alabama’s student literary magazine. I learned the basics of InDesign and got to work withh some great people.

  • “A Night Out” in The Downtime Review. This is my first and, so far, only published short story — in a now-defunct literary magazine that only ever published two issues. It’s one of my proudest projects, and an honor to be included in the passion project of these kind folks.

  • Evergreen ILS Staff Catalog documentation. As part of the Evergreen ILS Documentation Interest Group — and as my final prject for my MA in Tech Writing — I wrote the entire Staff Catalog module of the Evergreen ILS documentation. This included learning AsciiDoc and working with a wonderful team of technical writers to figure it out. (Oh, I also have three years of library experience in patron-facing roles, that didn’t hurt!)

  • The Capstone Journal of Law and Public Policy. I founded the Legal Research Club at the University of Alabama and established The Capstone Journal of Law and Public Policy. I know it’s weird to talk about college clubs as an adult — kind of like talking about your ACT score in college — but this remains one of my favorite projects. It’s the first undergraduate law review in Alabama, and it’s still being published to this day. I’m proud of the publication, sure, but I’m more proud of establishing an organization that’s lasted for years. But it never would have happened without the two folks who co-founded the club with me, the excellent students who have kept it going, and the faculty advisors who went (and go) above and beyond. I’m proud of my contribution, but more proud of the work we did as a team.

  • “Kripke on Unicorns and a Challenge to His Metaphysical Thesis”. I won a philosophy department award for this essay on unicorns. Yes, really.

And by the way: Yes, I do think you need a technical writer.