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."