Central Washington University
Microsoft Office
Linux
Internet Technologies
Software Applications
Consumer Tech Expert
Coletta recently completed work on the Microsoft Office Training Center. As the information architect on the project, she developed learning paths and training specifications for beginner, intermediate, and advanced training courses for all the Microsoft Office apps. She also wrote training materials and video scripts for Word, Access, and Visio.
Coletta began writing explainer content for businesses in the early 1980s. While working for an investment firm, she regularly wrote research reports, company profiles, and a monthly newsletter. In addition, she produced the firm's compliance manual and sales training manual.
After leaving the firm after Black Monday 1987, she leveraged her financial writing skills into a technical writing contract at a major bank. Since then, she’s worked on a variety of writing projects at Adobe, Boeing, GTE, Microsoft and other tech companies. She’s written monitoring procedures for network administrators, disaster plans for worldwide computer networks, reference manuals for software applications and research reports for emerging technologies.
In 1994, she pitched her first successful book proposal. Over the next 10 years, she wrote 21 books about various software applications and internet technologies. Most of her books showed beginners how to work with Microsoft Office. During this time, she was also the technical editor for 22 books.
In 2004, Coletta decided it was time to find a fresh writing voice when the editor of a Hawaii newspaper asked her to join their list of independent correspondents. While she interviewed all sorts of personalities on the Big Island of Hawaii and wrote stories about their lives and cultural events, she developed a conversational writing style.
In addition to writing for businesses and print publishers, Coletta has worked with a variety of online publishers.
My Gear
After years of being a nomadic writer, I now work from a spacious and well-lighted home office, but my setup is mostly mobile. I have two Windows 10 laptops (a 15-inch and an 11-inch), an Android tablet, and an Android smartphone. My setup also includes a full-bleed color printer and a graphics tablet. I administer and maintain my personal WordPress website, and create all the graphics using GIMP and other image editing tools. My toolbox also includes Microsoft 365 and movie apps that cast to my smart TV.
Coletta graduated from Central Washington University with a B.S. in Business Administration. Her education did not stop there. She regularly takes writing and data science classes to keep her skills current. She’s earned 11 IBM digital badges for courses in chatbot design, cloud computing, blockchain, data science and analytics.
I write for Lifewire because it's a great place to work, I love the format and writing style of Lifewire articles, and I enjoy sharing the technical skills I've learned over the years with others.
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