“I didn't find the idea for my book. It fell into my life like a ton of bricks,” Katy Butler relates. In Knocking on Heaven's Door, Butler describes her parents’ experiences with disability and terminal illness, and explores high-tech and other treatment at the end of life.
Science writing news
Kelly James-Enger lists some reasons why pitches are rejected or go unanswered. She lists rookie mistakes like misspelled words, but also this: "You didn't provide enough detail about how you'd approach the story. How long will the piece be? What kinds of sources will you interview? How will your structure the article? Will you include a sidebar or two? The more detail you provide, the easier it is for your editor to envision your piece — and say yes to you."
Are we doing the right thing by recruiting students into science journalism, which is undergoing all the upheavals that are hitting journalism as a whole? Will they find jobs or good freelance opportunities? Michael Balter of New York University’s Science, Health and Environmental Journalism Program discusses this question in the Summer 2013 ScienceWriters.
Foreshadowing is a fundamental writer's tool, but it's difficult to explain and can be even harder to master, K.M. Weiland writes in a post aimed at fiction writers: "Foreshadowing is really a simple concept. We’re providing our readers with a hint of what’s to come in order to prepare them for the type of story they will be reading. Sounds easy, right? But how do you decide what events need to be foreshadowed? And, further, how do you decide when to foreshadow?"
Tabitha M. Powledge replies to criticism of her Aug. 23 column taking journalists to task for not writing more on the changing views of CNN's Sanjay Gupta on marijuana legalization. She also reviews coverage of the newest news — the Justice Department's move to back off enforcement in Colorado and Washington — and warns of a paucity of marijuana research: "This is a huge experiment we’re running here, folks. And so far as I know, no one’s keeping track of it."
It's too easy for writers to get sloppy about security in their digital communications, Casey Frechette writes for Poynter in a post with 15 "best practices" tips. Take email, for example. Before it gets to your recipient, your message may pass through any number of other computers. "In principle, anyone with access to those computers can monitor the communications that pass through them. We think we’re sending a sealed envelope, but we’re really mailing a postcard."
Do you read the abstract first? If so, you're doing it wrong, Jennifer Raff says in a guide for non-scientists. Raff starts with the introduction, then methods, results, and conclusions: "When I’ve got a collection of papers assembled for deep reading, I always read the abstract last. I do this because abstracts contain a succinct summary of the entire paper, and I’m concerned about inadvertently becoming biased by the authors’ interpretation of the results."
Deadline anxiety? Technostress? Take the quiz in Ruth Winter’s book, Triumph Over Tension, and benefit from expert advice on managing daily hassles.
It started when "my PhD imploded," Virginia Gewin writes about her introduction to the AAAS Mass Media Fellowship in an essay on the companion web site to the Science Writers' Handbook. Gewin, who spent her 10-week fellowship interning at the Oregonian, writes: "I proved to myself that I could find a story, get the details and write on deadline. Any doubts that this career would make good use of years of scientific training were gone."