Hi, I'm Loren!

When I started at UA-Little Rock, I had less than a 2.0 GPA, a shaky employment record filled with jobs at pizza restaurants, and a 9-month-old baby.

 

I have several relatives who are nurses, so that's what I was going to be. The sight of blood gives me the heebie-jeebies, but my husband and I were selling plasma just to pay for baby food, so I didn't think being picky was in my best interest. I was also living on university breakfasts and stuffing my backpack full of fruit to give to my kid when I picked her up after class. I needed a degree and a steady job, and soon.

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Despite that, my path to becoming a technical writer was a bit of a ramble. I had to take Writing for Work as part of my core requirements for the nursing program. Then I took Usability Testing because it counted as an "upper level elective." I had learned about tech writing from these classes and was curious how anybody actually managed to make money doing something that seemed so fun. Then I found a flyer on a table in the student center. Evidently, tech writers make about the same amount of money as nurses do. Also, I discovered the coursework would let me graduate a year earlier than if I continued with nursing. So a technical writer I became.

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The master’s program in tech writing seemed a natural next step, so now I’m finishing a second degree in the field. I currently have a 4.0 GPA, several years of amazing experience, and a five-year-old who doesn't have to live on backpack fruit. I went from hiding in my car between classes to helping run the Little Rock Game Designers community group. I do creative things that make me happy like coming up with cool new game ideas. I tell stories with pixels and words and code, and it's fun. 

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Along the way, I interned at the Writing Center, where I first really learned to edit. I also got a Co-Op working at CAE to help edit training materials for the United States Air Force. I learned the general processes that editors use to track changes to documents, while becoming extremely well acquainted with Microsoft Word and SharePoint. CAE was also the first place I got a chance to work with Subject Matter Experts, which helped me to make more accurate decisions regarding content. In 2018, I interned with IT Services at UA Little Rock, designing technical documents. By the end of 2018, I started working full-time with Gainwell Technologies, which has had me working on multiple different projects like developing software documentation. 

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My work is highly interconnected, but for the purpose of this portfolio, I'm splitting it into three categories: Technical Writing, Game Design, and Document Design. 

 

Technical Writing encompasses my editing work, but also does a good job showcasing the detailed research that I do for each project. I love to read, so I always take initiative seeking out sources that will let me delve into whatever I'm writing about. 

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Game Design inspires me and shows up in a lot of my work. I make games as a creative as well as professional outlet, so the Game Design section showcases the best of my creative writing. My favorite thing about games is how they can give us a closer look into complex subjects like history, social justice, math, and science and how they support and foster learning. There is growing research about how games can be more effective at communicating than even textbooks. 

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I included Document Design as a section because it showcases my work making usable documents. I'm an artist at heart, so I was interested to learn about how design choices can influence how users perceive documents (as well as the task at-hand). Beyond just visual design, I've also studied how best to design website navigation and have learned a lot about web design conventions that help users successfully operate everything from software documentation to online courses. 

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What I love about the PTW program is the encouragement I get from my professors to look outside the box when approaching new projects. It's also extremely helpful that the concepts I learn about in one course can be applied to many others. Every class is interconnected in some way with others that reinforces my learning, so much so that the material feels like a part of my creative thinking now.

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