Interlude: Struggles, Fonts, and Article-Level Metrics

Let's get something straight: we all struggle with writing.

But very few of us see that struggle in others.

What do we see? The final product—the published article, the printed book, or the funded proposal.

What don't we see? The blank page you faced, the isolation you felt while writing, the countless hours you spent doing research, the words and sentences you deliberated over, the fascinating data you uncovered that doesn't support the core idea of the paper, the beautifully crafted paragraph that you cut to meet the word limit, and the many revisions that you made before arriving at the final draft.

Just because we don't see the struggle doesn't mean the process was easy.

The struggle is part of the writing process. And with great struggle comes great wisdom and reward.

Now onto this week's round-up...

💌 Round-up

📆 Upcoming

Craft the Essential Elements of a Compelling Grant Proposal – April 9/16, 2024
Next week, I’ll be facilitating a workshop for the Center for Research Artistic, and Scholarly Excellence at the University of San Francisco. During the workshop, we'll cover how to effectively craft the essential elements of a grant proposal.

…Oh, and if you’re interested in sponsoring a seminar or workshop for your group, just reply to this email. I’d be delighted to discuss ideas.

👓 Reading

Measuring the impact of scientific publications and publication extenders: examples of novel approaches​
"The past decade has seen the development of article-level metrics (ALMs), that measure the online attention received by an individual publication in contexts including social media platforms, news media, citation activity, and policy and patent citations. These new tools can complement traditional bibliometric data and provide a more holistic evaluation of the impact of a publication. This commentary discusses the need for ALMs, and summarizes several examples..."

​Writing matters​
"Compared to the original versions, economists judge edited versions as higher quality; they are more likely to accept edited versions for a conference; and they believe that edited versions have a better chance of being accepted at a good journal. . . Making the writing easier to understand causes economists to evaluate academic papers more positively."

🖥️ Watching

Fonts Hanging Out – Part 3​
In this clever Instagram reel, you can watch a creative spin on what a conversation might be among a group of fonts. I hope it adds a smile to your day.

💬 Quote

“When you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story. When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story.” –Stephen King, On Writing

✅ Action

The next time you sit down to read something, take a moment to acknowledge the hard work that the author(s) put into the draft. Notice if you feel more appreciation for the work and empathy for the struggles the authors faced while writing.

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal