Interlude: First-Person Pronouns, Writing by Hand, and the Timing of Books

This week's intro will be short and sweet.

I'm currently connecting with other word nerds, wordsmith wizards, and communication gurus at a conference hosted by the Northern California Chapter of the American Medical Writers Association. If you are attending the conference, come on over to say hi. I'd be thrilled to see you out in the wild.

Let's get to the good stuff...

💌 Round-up

👓 Reading

“I” versus “the author”: The power of first-person voice when writing about science​
“It’s time for scientists to embrace first-person pronouns and move beyond outdated notions that those powerful, short, gender-neutral, easy-to-read words are somehow inappropriate in science writing. Perhaps some of us more senior scientists have forgotten that a similar plea came decades ago...when we were young and starting to find our scientific writing “voice” but were too afraid to raise it. Those privileged to work as scientists must strive to write research articles in more engaging, creative, and interesting ways that serve readers. Using first-person pronouns can help.”

​Why writing by hand beats typing for thinking and learning​
"A slew of recent brain imaging research suggests handwriting's power stems from the relative complexity of the process and how it forces different brain systems to work together to reproduce the shapes of letters in our heads onto the page."

🎧 Listening

Morgan Housel: Get Rich, Stay Rich – The Knowledge Project Podcast​
In this episode, Morgan Housel shares how books can be missing puzzle pieces at a particular moment and how they are meaningful only if they come to us at the right time. He also shares his thoughts on why we shouldn't feel guilty about not finishing books. If you don't want to listen to the full podcast, jump to 1:18 to hear his thoughts on books.

🧰 Tools

ReallyWrite​
I was introduced to ReallyWrite last week when I was fortunate to meet one of the creators. My first reaction was, "How did I not know about this tool until now?!" ReallyWrite is a free editing tool that not only gives you line-by-line feedback on your text, but it also teaches you about the problems in your text and shows you how to fix them.

💬 Quote

“Try to leave out the parts that readers tend to skip.” – Elmore Leonard

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal