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Write write write. That seems to be a major part of my life now. Whether it's writing down the next draft of the paper (which I'm still at draft one for one, and draft three for the other), or writing my overview document, writing abstracts for upcoming conferences, or writing weekly reports. And on top of all that, there's also this blog.
But there's also an additional amount of subtle writing skills required as a researcher, which adds up the to writing total. These might be the chicken scratches one makes for notes and ideas that come from reading a paper or a spur of the moment. While short and concise (in addition to messy), they need to contain enough content just to re-spark the same idea when we glance at it again at a later time. There are the do-it notes to yourself, which vary in degree in tone, some just stating a task to be completed, while others are more stern, telling YOU to finish something. At that point one has to wonder if they're on the verge of insanity for talking to themselves in such an aggressive manner.
There are the outlines for presentations, as well as writing in the presentation in itself which turn out to be a challenge. Too many words and instantly the slide or poster becomes too cluttered, too full, and ironically, too illegible. Too little and you wonder if anyone really took anything out of what you just said, or even if they understand you to begin with (this is a frequent problem of mine).
There are many moments of writing required of researchers and scientists. Sometimes they're immediately obvious to us, such as the requirement to write and publish papers (although one can also attempt to avoid that). While other times they are more subtle and are in our every life. Ultimately we'll find that there are no shortcuts to getting better at any of these things, but to continue practicing and attempting each one.
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In other words, this post has been written to motivate me to continue blogging.
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