Goodreads asked Michael Wikan:

What’s the best thing about being a writer?

Michael Wikan Writing something, even an email or letter, that the addressee actually reads and responds to my message. There are so many professions that depend on writing! Let me tell you one short tale. As a Systems Engineer for a Defense Contractor (after my military retirement) I headed a team of technical experts - logistics, training, mathematics, etc. that were tasked to investigate a Training Requirement and identify different solutions, arrange by probable cost and effectiveness and make a recommendation to the Government office which contracted the work. Once the individual investigations were complete I wrote the considerably lengthy report and included the separate reports as enclosures. So, I wrote the report as I would write a story, saving the best for the last. Once the report was submitted I waited for follow up questions, but received a pleasant surprise. My contractual Contact came over to my office, sat down and said there were no questions. But, he said, his boss read the report and the next day he said, "that report read like a novel. It held my interest and wrapped up all the approaches and questions I had as I read it." I became very much in demand for future programs.

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