Sheina North’s passion is to work with the written word and to create. This takes many forms. At work she uses her skills as a Technical Writer and Editor and a Website Designer. On her own time she writes novels and other story forms. She also creates small, candle-accent granite sculptures and turns her hand at other artistic endeavors.
A senior technical writer, employed by SAIC, Inc., by day Sheina is a contract employee supporting Technology Development (TechDev) at Sandia National Laboratories. She works with a small group of developers who create and modify installers for enterprise-wide distribution of various applications (such as Microsoft Office) that are part of Sandia’s Common Operating Environment. Sheina’s project documentation includes work requests, requirements documents, process documents, review of beta test plans, and other tasks that may arise.
With a technical background in computer hard- and software support, Sheina also performs technical evaluation of Knowledge Base (KB) content as well as style review and editing of new and existing KB submissions. She writes user documentation, does content management and implements document controls for many of TechDev’s documents. To facilitate consistency and ease of use, she has created a variety of Microsoft Word templates that are used for the group’s projects. Additionally, she employs the use of SharePoint collaboration websites for better work flow and version control.
Sheina also publishes a technical communication periodical, called Tech Flash, for Sandia’s computing support services personnel. Tech Flash is used to get information from TechDev out to support partners in a timely manner. This includes break/fix information, releases of new installers to the corporate application servers, as well as new preferred computer systems. Tech Flash was a recipient of an Award of Excellence from the Society for Technical Communication (STC), 2006 Southwest Regional Publication, Art, and Online Competitions (PAO).
Outside of the day job activities, Sheina has two completed fantasy novels, with a third in progress. One of her nonfiction stories appears in the anthology, "A Cup of Comfort for Horse Lovers" released in April, 2008 by Adams Media. Past activities include being a very active member of SouthWest Writers, heading its Young Writers Contest, and other volunteer positions. She also regularly serves as a judge in two writing contest for high school and college-aged writers, as well as acting as a judge in the STC 2006 and 2007 Publication competition (part of the PAO).
She has served the Kachina Chapter as a competition judge and as Secretary (for two terms) on the Administrative Council.