Writing at article for SQL Server Central tends to be a very rewarding
experience. Every chance I get, I encourage others to try their hand at
putting forth something. Not only does it serve as a resume builder,
but it gives back something to the community, helps develop knowledge
in the topic being written about, and leaves a sense of accomplishment
when you see your article as a headline on the front page. I first
started writing for swynk.com after emailing Brian Knight about the
possibility and receiving a wonderful email back about how to get
started. One of my first articles generated some comments from Steve
Jones and they were encouraging and constructively offered some points
where he had a different opinion. It made a huge impact on me that guys
like Brian and Steve would take the time to help me write an article
and then help me get better at the craft. I remember taking that
article, which dealt with service accounts for SQL Server, and
immediately re-writing it to show the constrasting view points.
I was reminded of this when I saw a post on the Security Basics mailing list (@ securityfocus.com)
asking how to go about writing a security whitepaper.
One of the first replies that came back was one similar in attitude and
advice to the emails I received from Brian and Steve. The post started
with these words, "Actually, it's quite simple. To write an effective
whitepaper, you will need the following prior to beginning your writing
endeavor:" and ends with these, "If you remember these simple but
useful tips, you will go far... ;)) Good luck!" The post even included
some sample topics to think about writing about and some topics to
keep far, far away from.
If you've ever considered writing an article, I recommend reading this post: Re: Writing Papers on Information Security. It has good, solid advice on how to approach the task. Probably the most important piece of advice it gives is this:
"
(10) Write a whitepaper because you WANT to dit (sic), not because to HAVE to, or are after money, power or control. Those are the WRONG reasons for writing a whitepaper."