Hi, Reader! Whether you like them or loathe them, we all have to deal with time and word limits at some point. In this issue, I take a look at the questions you should ask yourself anytime you're operating with one of these constraints. And because we all sometimes have budget constraints, too, I share some of my secrets for finding free, royalty-free images, video footage, music, and sound effects. I hope they'll help you dress up your presentations, videos, and research posters without...
over 1 year ago • 1 min read
Hi, Reader! Since I was asked a few weeks ago to prepare a five-minute, no-slides talk for Fellows of the Royal Society, I've had constraints on the brain. I feel like we scientists and engineers love to complain about time limits and word counts and just not having enough space for our voices and ideas. But the more I thought about constraints in other contexts, like art, the more I realized that constraints are, in fact, a good thing to have. And not just for the audience or conference...
over 1 year ago • 1 min read
Hi, Reader! It's been a busy few weeks around here, with lots of distractions interrupting my efforts at progress. I imagine I'm not alone in that situation, so this newsletter's posts contain some advice, not for avoiding distractions (because, frankly, sometimes that's impossible) but for getting things done in spite of them. And if you've got any good tips, I'm all ears! Let me know how you structure your work to make progress even when the world demands your attention elsewhere. Writing...
over 1 year ago • 1 min read
Hey, Reader! Here in Colorado the weather is gorgeous and spring allergies are in full swing. Can't have it all, I guess! Today's newsletter includes the debut of what I hope will be a new series for me, "Fixed It For You," in which I show how and why I revise sentences to make them clearer and simpler. Is this useful to you? Would you like to see more? Hit reply and let me know! Fixed It For You I love sentence-level tweaking and revision (a.k.a. "wordsmithing") with clients. Here, I delve...
over 1 year ago • 1 min read
Hi, Reader! Are you ready to finish out the Hero's Journey series? Today's newsletter includes my last (planned) post for the series. But if you have questions -- or want to see more -- just let me know! With the series wrapped, I turned my sights back to my bookshelf and some of the tools that sit there, ready to help me write effective and engaging science. This time I picked up Storycraft, a writing book so helpful to me that I re-read it every year or two. This last time around, I...
over 1 year ago • 1 min read
Hi, Reader! I don't know about you, but I had a rough weekend. I landed in the hospital during the wee hours, and while I'm doing better now, I don't feel much like my normal self. So, while this newsletter has Part 3 of my Hero's Journey series, Part 4 will have to wait a week or so while I recover and get myself back on an even keel. Thanks for understanding while I pause and reset! The Hero's Journey, Part 3: Character-Driven Nonfiction When writing a science-focused Hero's Journey, you...
over 1 year ago • 1 min read
Hey, Reader! Years ago, sitting in a packed auditorium, a YouTuber blew my mind with a simple observation: he and lots of other creators used the Hero's Journey as method for structuring their non-fiction videos. The same structure that works for Lord of the Rings and Star Wars is useful for telling other stories, too. Before the presentation was even over, I'd scribbled out notes for how to adapt a client's scientific story into a series of Hero's Journeys that would carry colleagues through...
over 1 year ago • 1 min read
Hey, Reader! I hope you're doing well this Valentine's week. My Monday started off quite frenetic, but I'm hoping for a bit of a lull mid-week so that I can build out some time to concentrate and write. Writing is also the big topic of this issue's posts, one of which focuses on how to use writing samples to improve your work. The second post looks a bit more at my own writing process and the tools I use in writing. Are you a single word processor kind of writer, or do you have a whole...
over 1 year ago • 1 min read
Hi there, Reader! I have a confession: I've gotten behind on writing blog posts. When I started, I had several extra draft posts ready to go, but then life happened and those evaporated. That's left me scrambling week-by-week for what I'll write about. But that pressure has been good in some ways. It's forced me to think about some of my core messages and how I can demonstrate them in useful ways. That brings me to today's topics. In both of these articles, I aim to show parts of the writing...
over 1 year ago • 1 min read