Goodreads asked Alan N. McClain:

What’s the best thing about being a writer?

Alan N. McClain I would say that sharing our knowledge gained from real-world experience is the best part of being a writer. This may take many forms, in non-fiction and in fiction. For example, classic writers including Earnest Hemingway and John Steinbeck wrote about events they had witnessed in their travels.
I myself am a dedicated problem-solver who has for many years intuitively practiced original "critical thinking," driven by a curiosity to understand how things work and then to use that understanding to make them work better. People noticed that I saw problems and deficiencies in things around us, and I searched for ways around those problems. Classmates in my business school thought that I should be an analyst.
In 1970, two years after joining NCR's computer factory, my abilities were recognized, and I was promoted to Systems Analyst -- a job title known everywhere to be for one who really finds ways to understand and solve tough problems.
That began my career in systems, which included writing many original and complete management operating manuals for some of America's most famous industrial companies, a merging of systems studies and my natural communicative abilities, writing and speaking clearly to simplify, summarize, and explain a complex subject.

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