About the Author

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Hi – I’m Kim Shupenia. A technical writer with over 20 years’ corporate experience, I’m comparatively new to writing stories.

Don’t get me wrong: since I could grip a crayon, I’ve written. In grade school, too broke to afford a gift, I won an annual Mother’s Day essay contest run by the local paper, who supplied a bouquet of roses almost as tall as my baby brother. Growing up, my flashlight illuminated letters scribbled under the covers to Spock and other fictional heroes.

Calgary, Alberta skyline

Outside Calgary, on an acreage in Alberta’s Rocky Mountains, I snuck out of bed at night to pour through philosophies that filled our home – Robert A Heinlein, Ayn Rand, Ray Bradbury, Anne McCaffery, Douglas Adams, Phillippa Gregory, Anne Perry, Lindsey Davis, Elizabeth Moon… I wanted to join their dialog; but I needed a reliable source of income.

Years later, an established technical communicator, I rose high enough up Maslow’s hierarchy for self-actualization: it was time to write. Starting with McKee’s Story and King’s On Writing, I eventually sent a humble snippet to a childhood hero for review. Piers Anthony kindly wrote back, “Your piece is clear, well-expressed, and interesting. But is it enough? I have the impression it would do better as the background to another story.”

Development continued on the snippet; at times, it’s reached over 70,000 words. Piers (himself a technical writer) was right – technical writing and story telling rarely overlap. Accustomed to corporate dogma, I have far to go. That’s what this blog explores: learning to write a story from the perspective of a technical writer.

Current inspirations include sassy summer romance writer Elin Hilderbrand, True Blood megastar Charlaine Harris, and Hunger Games legend Suzanne Collins – whose ability to convey oceans of meaning in words as dry as a Haiku pile of twigs, leaves me breathless.

 

One thought on “About the Author

  1. Marilyn Segall

    Enjoy writing, write what you want – you have the talent and creativity – the words will flow. If you want to publish, eventually, we know an accomplished literary agent.

    Reply

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