Tom Wrona is a successful author, editor, journalist, technical writer, corporate trainer and Web developer. He's been explaining computers to people since 1978, when he introduced the Tandy TRS-80 to members of the fledgling Westchester (N.Y.) Computer Club on behalf of a local Radio Shack store.

In the years since, he's written for computer magazines that include Windows User, PC Resource, MacUser, MacWorld and Computer Reseller News, where he was the reviews editor and wrote a column on the Macintosh.

As a partner in Computer Coach, of Boca Raton, Fla., Wrona taught more than 10,000 students how to use Windows, Macintosh and popular applications like the Microsoft Office suite. He was also the company's vice president and chief instructional designer.

Wrona’s byline was first seen in his contribution to Willam Safire’s bestseller On Language, (Times Books, 1980) a collection of Safire’s New York Times columns of the same name and letters his readers sent him. Safire included a letter Wrona had sent him correcting the language maven’s English (127K PDF).

Wrona’s first book, How to Run a Hard Disk PC, was published in 1988 by Scott, Foresman and Company. Bay Area Computer Currents said it was, “Required reading for ‘Hard Disk Management 101.’”

His second book, Build a Web Site in a Day: An 8-Hour Plan for Launching & Promoting Your Site was published in 1997 by Ventana Communications. The Education and Training Academy Online Review wrote, “I recommend that you read Build a Web Site in a Day. Sorry, you cannot have my copy even at twice the price.” (Emphasis added in both quotes.)

Thomas Wrona is also the author of Globalisierung und Strategien der vertikalen Integration. Analyse, empirische Befunde, Gestaltungsoptionen but ummm... that's by some guy in Germany who happpens to also be named Thomas Wrona.

Tom Wrona's corporate clients have included AWAS Aviation, A.P. Moller - Maersk Group, Baker & McKenzie, Borland International, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Dow Jones & Company, IDG International, KPMG, New Jersey Institute of Technology, New York Power Authority, Nortel Networks, Racal Telecom, Telecom Library, and Ziff-Davis.

Wrona's writing and editing experience extends into practically all areas of business communications. He's written direct mail pieces, press releases and press kits, marketing collateral, SEO (search engine optimized) Web site copy and more.

For six years he was the theater critic for The (Surf City, NJ) Beachcomber, for which he reviewed local summer stock productions. In the spring of 2007 he wrote for to the dining site Chowbaby.com with his lists of the The Great Restaurants, The Best Buys in Restaurants, The Top Delicious Hideaways and The Most Romantic Restaurants in Atlantic City.

In 2009 Wrona sharpened his skills writing SEO (search engine opimized) copy for the content farms of Demand Media. His articles included Making Chicken Soup for 150 People (one way: surf the Web and find a recipe that serves eight, then multiply the quantities by 18.75), How to Date Women of Your Dreams (stop snickering) and How to Build an Electronic Weather Station, among others.

Wrona's journalistic experience is equally broad. He's written for audiences that range from the soccer moms who read the consumer affairs and employment columns he wrote for Woman's World to the Wall Street movers and shakers who read Barron's.

As an SEO copywriter for B&H Photo Video, Wrona wrote online catalog copy for hundreds of consumer electronics products like the Panasonic DVD-LS855 8.5 Portable DVD/CD Player and the Sony DAV-DZ170 5.1 Channel DVD Home Theater System.

From B&H he moved on to Vidyo, Inc., a maker of videoconferencing systems, first as a contract senior technical writer and then the company's editor and publisher, technical publications.

What's the common thread in these uncommonly diverse audiences? Wrona is a professional explainer. He takes arcane concepts and complex ideas and translates them into plain English anyone can understand.

Wrona has appeared on PBS's Nightly Business Report, WABC-TV's Eyewitness News and he has been interviewed on radio talk shows from coast to coast.

In his spare time Wrona scans the heavens with his 200 mm Meade LX-90, computer-controlled Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. He also holds amateur radio license KC2QFG.A Meade LX90 like mine

My first moon shot

 Ironically, the shot on the left was not taken with my big honking 200cm (eight inch) SCT (on the right). I took it by merely holding my Canon PowerShot S50 digicam up to the eyepiece of my little 90mm Meade Maksutov-Cassegrain. Hey kids, science is fun!

 

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