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Full Circle Turns 15!
 In June 1996, I started my writing and editing business, Full Circle Communications.
As my first assignment, I "repurposed" (before that word became part of the business vocabulary) a report on educational decentralization in Ethiopia for USAID's SARA Project. Earlier this year, I began to count the number of projects I have worked on since then, from writing 10-word ad copy to editing 850-page books, but gave up after I reached 300.
 | My first logo, designed by Irene Stefanski, when a mouse seemed almost cutting edge.
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Even if I couldn't count them all, I could look at every single one and remember distinctly what was involved, who I worked with, and what I had to learn in order to do a good job. That's the great thing about our business.
I have worked directly for some of you who are reading this newsletter. For others, I may have asked or given advice; others still, we have not met yet. But to all who are part of the community that values clear writing, thanks for your support!
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That Was Then
Fifteen years makes a huge difference. When I began Full Circle, we--
- Used WordPerfect as much as Word;
- Held our breaths when we had to send attachments. One of my first orders of business was to set up an account with a courier to send disks and hard copies to clients;
- Waited, waited, waited for our dial-up modems to connect;
- Charged our mobile phones almost as long as they ran and paid hefty per-minute charges. Plus, we only used them for calls;
- "Desktop-published" with PageMaker 5.0 and Illustrator 5.0;
- Relied on desktop, rather than laptop, computers, with large cube-sized monitors;
- Had simple hand-coded websites. And what about all those flying graphics and little yellow signs with "under construction" men digging?
- Produced videos that had to be edited in some mysterious facility;
- Used film in cameras.
More than technology changed. Fifteen years is several stock market booms and busts ago, pre-9/11, pre-Iraq and Afghanistan, pre-widespread use of AZT....in other words, events both good and bad have taken place since then. In many ways, 1996 seems a quaint and naive time, doesn't it?
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This Is Now....
In fifteen years, we will look back at what seems so cutting edge now and snicker--
- iPhones, iPads, iPods, etc.
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Credit and debit cards
- Google
- Streaming media
- Webinars and web conferences
Fifteen years from now, I hope we will be healthy and at peace, with our talents spent inventing things beyond new reality shows and iPhone apps.
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What Do You Have Going?
Do you have a book, website, or blog to share with other readers?
Do you have a question related to writing or editing I can cover in this newsletter, or suggestions about how I can make future issues more useful to you or your colleagues?
If so, please let me know.
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