Tag Archives: journalism
Book Coming Soon!
Things are heating up for The Science Writers’ Handbook: Everything You Need to Pitch, Publish, and Prosper in the Digital Age. I contributed two sidebars to this book, and I think it’s excellent–full of good, solid, practical advice about how … Continue reading
Snakehead Tournament
Back in 2004, I had a great time poking around the Potomac River and its tributaries in search of snakeheads. I was reporting my first story for Smithsonian magazine, about the fish, which was at that time a new arrival … Continue reading
To Quote or Not to Quote
The Open Notebook is a lovely website created by two of my fellow science writers to help all of us get better at our jobs. The website has several regular features, including one where they interview a writer about how … Continue reading
science, journalism, and knitting on ice
This afternoon at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, I’m giving a talk with the clever title “Science, Journalism and Knitting on Ice: My Six-week Adventure in the Bering Sea.” I’ll be talking about my 2009 Bering Sea trip. I really … Continue reading
bird by bird by bird by bird
A beloved book has reentered my life. It’s Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. This was required reading in my science writing class at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and contains many useful pieces of advice, … Continue reading
scientists are also people
Another nice blog post by Sarah Zielinski at Smithsonian about my work – in this case, about my wacky idea that scientists are also people. I know! It’s a crazy idea, but I think it might be true!
how I get good quotes
A month ago, Dave Grimm, my editor at ScienceNOW, e-mailed me about quotes: “as you know, i hate to flatter you. but you do tend to get awesome quotes for your stories. also as you know, i’m teaching a science writing class at hopkins … Continue reading
find an expert!
Someone bought a facebook ad to sell experts to people like me: You know what? Thanks, random advertiser, but I can find my own experts. I wonder if there are reporters who use services like this? I find google gets … Continue reading
I’m a winner!
Or an Honorable-Mention-er, anyway. I entered a story in the D.C. Science Writers’ Association’s first annual Science Newsbrief Award and, hey, they liked it! I write a lot of short pieces. They’re pretty tough. Explaining science is hard enough without … Continue reading
birds don’t like rain
You’d think rainforest birds would be ok with rain – and you’d be right, to a point. But when the rain really comes down hard, the birds stop flying around. Today I wrote a story for ScienceNOW about a study … Continue reading