Transitioning from Tech Writing to Fiction Writing

Every field demands diversity. From corporate positions to medicine to art, variety is the need of the hour. In this fast-paced world, it’s a necessity to have more than one talent or career choice. Today, people practice multiple skills to make themselves versatile. Similarly, an American author, Lee Allen Howard, has proved that using one’s full potential contributes to achieving all of their goals.

Lee Allen Howard has had a knack for writing since childhood. Horror stories fascinated him, and he wrote his first tale when he was eight for a school assignment. His writing was pretty imaginative for a child that young. And you could predict that he would grow up to be a writer, which he did.

The Art of Balancing Facts and Creativity

Born on April 2, 1962, Lee started primary education at South Adams Elementary School in Berne, Indiana. During this time, he found himself inclined towards horror stories. He discovered an innate talent for mimicking the tone and feel of what he read. A few of his favorites were Norman Bridwell’s How to Care for Your Monster, and later, Donald Westlake’s Parker series and Jim Thompson’s The Killer Inside Me. He often wrote short stories expressing his wild and spooky imagination. This led to his first publication as a professional fiction writer. “Trick or Treat,” a Halloween horror story, was featured in the Brookville, Pennsylvania, Jeffersonian-Democrat newspaper in 1979.

Howard continued his education at Hickory Grove Elementary School in Brookville after relocating for the third time. He graduated from Brookville Jr./Sr. High School in 1980. He then entered Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP). After graduating from IUP with a BA in English in 1984, Howard decided to make writing his full-time career. While employed as a word processor, he spent 18 months in Rockville, Maryland, and then started his career as a technical writer after moving to Pittsburgh in 1986.

Although Howard was doing what he loved—writing—he mourned the creative spark in his work, a spark he enjoyed when he wrote fiction. Not wanting to restrict himself to only technical writing and desiring to keep his creativity alive with horror stories, he began writing fiction again. At the same time, his interest developed in another genre. Howard grew up in a religious household, with his father as a pastor. This aspect 0f his life influenced him to write religious books as well.

After getting married, Howard started God’s Plan Ministries as a house church with his wife in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, in 2002. He pastored there for three years, but certain reasons led them to dissolve the ministry in 2005. Howard also founded a Christian publishing company, Beautiful Feet Publishing, Inc., through which he published You Are the Body of Christ in 1996 (republished in 2012). He disbanded the company after a few years.

During this time, Howard continued being a serious technical writer and an imaginative and vibrant fiction writer. As of 2019, Howard works from home full-time as a technical writer for a software company based in Palo Alto, California. A few of his most popular novels are The Sixth Seed and Death Perception, released in 2013; The Adamson Family, released in 2017; and The Bedwetter: Journal of a Budding Psychopath, released in 2019. Howard also wrote non-fiction such as Response to a Concerned Heterosexual Christian, released in 2015, Get Outta Debt! How to Eliminate Debt and Enjoy Financial Freedom, released in 2017, and many more.

Lee Allen Howard has fully embraced the art of writing in two poles-apart genres. He has proved that, with dedication and a strong mindset, everything is achievable. It is possible for people to hold two different jobs at the same time without going insane. Being a technical writer and dealing with international clients during the day, and creating fiction by night display Howard’s expertise and unique talent to handle two different types of writing effortlessly. He plans to retire from technical writing in a few years and transition to full-time fiction writing as his final career. His path is an inspiration for those juggling different skills at one time. Focus and determination, like Howard has demonstrated, are all one requires to achieve their goals.

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About the Author

Dr. Jerry Doby Editor-in-Chief of The Hype Magazine, Media and SEO Consultant, Journalist, Ph.D. and retired combat vet. 2023 recipient of The President's Lifetime Achievement Award. Partner at THM Media Group. Member of the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture, the United States Press Agency and ForbesBLK.