Interlude: Commitments, Saying No, and Buying Time

Do you have a hard time saying "No"?

I sure do.

Whether it's an exciting opportunity or my (full confession) people-pleasing nature, I tend to quickly say "Yes" to things without thinking about the ramifications of that commitment.

And that's when a three-letter word leads to overwhelm.

I anticipate that you have similar struggles. Maybe you don't want to say "No" to a student who asked for help. Or maybe you fear saying "No" to a request from your supervisor. Or maybe you want to say "Yes" to an exciting idea, but you're already juggling a lot of other commitments.

So one question that's been on my mind is: If you say "Yes" to this task, what are saying "No" to?

If you say "Yes" to meeting with a student, are you saying "No" to writing your grant? If you say "Yes" to taking on another project from your supervisor, are you saying "No" to quality work? If you say "Yes" to an exciting idea, are you saying "No" to another commitment you already made?

And that leads me to another question that's been on my mind: How can you say "No" (or "Yes") effectively and respectfully?

In my quest to find strategies, I've found some interesting perspectives that I thought you might find helpful. So I put together a themed issue on how to say "No" so that you can focus on what truly matters to you.

Let's get to it...

💌 Round-up

👓 Reading

Success Requires Saying No, Here's How The Experts Do It​
"Successful people say no to 90+ percent of the things that are asked of them. They just don't have the time to take advantage of every opportunity. But because they say no so frequently, they learn to do it in a way that's effective but respectful. That leaves a positive impression.

Each response Ferriss published had similar structural elements:

• Personal acknowledgment

• Admission that the recipient is doing too much--a sort of "It's me, not you" message

• Statement that the recipient has to focus on his or her own priorities at the moment

• Explanation of those priorities (a lot of people need details to sympathize)

• Information about why completing existing commitments is more important than taking on new ones

• Rationale for blanket policy of not taking on new meetings, calls, or projects"

​Work Speak: How to Say “No” to Extra Work​
"...there is a right and wrong way to turn down tasks. . .Instead of pushing back or going on the defense, you can be thoughtful, explain your reasoning, and avoid making enemies along the way." This article includes sample scenarios and language to help you understand (and practice) the strategies.

🎧 Listening

Insights from Google's Productivity Expert—On Saying No, Cozy Corners, The Laundry Method, and More with Laura Mae Martin​
In this episode of the Free Time Podcast, Laura shares five ways to say no:

• Ask questions to better understand the time commitment and whether it aligns with your top priorities.

• Say you’ll think about it or don’t respond right away to buy yourself time to figure out if you really want to commit.

• Imagine the different scenarios for saying "Yes" or "No."

• Say "No, but..." and send some helpful resources.

• Say "No, because..." and give a little context for why you are saying "No."

🖥️ Watching

The Power of "Yes And"​
In this Instagram Reel, Vinh Quang Giang shares how "Yes and" is a powerful conversation technique that can transform any negative into a positive.

💬 Quote

"The obvious way to buy back your time is to pay someone to do something for you. Pay the mechanic to change your oil or a dry cleaner to press your suit.

The less obvious way to buy back your time is to say no. Passing on a promotion might "buy" you more time with family. Declining the dinner invite might "pay" for the time you need to exercise. We buy back our time not only with the money we spend, but also with the opportunities we decline.

The more clearly you know how you want to spend your days, the easier it becomes to say no to the requests that steal your hours." –James Clear

✅ Action

The next time you find yourself wanting to say "Yes" to something that you don't really want to do, try an expert tactic for saying "No."

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: Empty Chairs, Literature Maps, and Bridging the Gap

A few years ago, I learned that Amazon has a unique strategy for keeping customers in mind during meetings.

At every meeting, no matter what size, they have an empty chair. This chair represents the customer, which Amazon considers the most important person in the room.

What if we could use this strategy for our writing?

For writers, this chair would represent readers, who are the most important people for us to keep in mind while we write.

I do recognize that many writers work in isolation and spend most of their time staring at a monitor and their workspace. So, an empty chair by their desk may not be the best (or space-appropriate) visual cue to focus on writing for their readers. But here are a few other ideas to try.

🪑 Add an image of a chair to the header of your document so you see the visual cue on every page.

🪑 Buy a dollhouse chair to place on your desk.

🪑 Buy a mouse pad with an image of a chair.

What strategies do you have for keeping readers in mind while you write?

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

💌 Round-up

📆 Upcoming

Connection Compass: Create Flow that Guides Readers Through Your Writing – March 27, 2024, 10 am PT
If you missed my presentation at the 2023 American Medical Writers Association conference, join me for an expanded version. During this webinar, I'll share how writers can apply valuable writing principles to create a smooth flow that guides readers through the content, builds on their knowledge, and keeps them engaged in the writing.

👓 Reading

​The power of language: how to bridge the gap between healthcare research and patients – a scoping review
​“Four major themes about the use of language were developed from the literature analysis and were used to develop the set of recommendations. These recommendations include guidance on using standardized terminology and plain language when involving patients in healthcare research. They also discuss the implementation of co-development practices, patient support initiatives, and researcher training, as well as ways to improve emotional awareness and the need for greater equality, diversity, and inclusion.”

​Why doctors and nurses should use more plain language and less jargon​
"...the Ask Me 3® programme. This programme was developed by health literacy experts and aims to help patients by providing these three questions as a starting point to improve conversations between patients, caregivers and healthcare providers. The three specific questions to ask to better understand their health conditions and what they need to do to stay healthy are:

What is my main problem?
What do I need to do?
Why is it important for me to do this?"

🧰 Tools

Litmaps​
Litmaps uses a unique approach to identifying relevant literature. This app uses Seed Maps of the citation network to find articles based on their connections via citations and references. You can even visualize the relationships between the articles in your collection with literature maps (Litmaps).‍

💬 Quote

"I think writing is really a process of communication... It's the sense of being in contact with people who are part of a particular audience that really makes a difference to me in writing." – Sherley Anne Williams

✅ Action

The next time you sit down to write, visualize your reader sitting in a chair next to you. What writing advice would they give you?

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: Communication Framework, Misused Words, and Genuine Images

Hi Crystal,

I recently read an article that described a simple model for effectively communicating a message. The model is called the “What, So What, Now What” Framework.

This framework comprises three simple questions:

What: What are the facts, situation, product, position, etc?

So What: What is the relevance of these details to the audience?

Now What: What next steps do you want the audience to take?

This simple framework is also a great high-level model for effective communication in manuscripts and grant proposals. With some minor tweaking to the questions, we get the following:

📝 Manuscripts

What: What approach did you use and what are the findings?

So What: What is the relevance of those findings to the field?

Now What: What next steps can be taken now that we have those findings?

💰 Proposals

What: What data will you collect and what approach will you use to collect that data?

So What: What will be the relevance of that data to the field?

Now What: What next steps could be done once we have that data?

The “What, So What, Now What” Framework is a simple model that does not delineate the complexities of manuscripts and grant proposals. But I think the framework can give authors a helpful high-level view of whether they are effectively communicating their overall message.

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

💌 Round-up

👓 Reading

Scientific Writing—What's in a Word​
“Even the most meticulous scientific writers misuse words and forget grammar rules. These mistakes delay the reviewing process, frustrating authors and JNEB editorial staff. This column aims to address the most common mistakes seen in submissions. Hopefully, this list will help identify and clarify these kinds of issues.”

…Oh, and if you want to learn more words that are commonly misused, check out our collection of resources on this topic.

​Genuine images in 2024​
"…in 2024, the Science family of journals is adopting the use of Proofig, an artificial intelligence (AI)–powered image-analysis tool, to detect altered images across all six of the journals.

Proofig screens images for duplication and other types of manipulation. It is similar to the iThenticate plagiarism detection software (which Science has been using for 7 years), but it works on images rather than text.”

🖥️ Watching

Pep Talk​
In this short Instagram Reel, Jefferson Fisher shares how words and your communication are "the greatest power or tool of influence that you can possess."

💭 Thoughts

As writers, we need to clearly define and understand our audience so that we can write for them, not to them.

✅ Action

On a sticky note, write "What", "So what", and "Now what" on three separate lines. Place the sticky note on your monitor so that you can see it whenever you need to craft a message.

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: Portals, Hypotheses, and Bad First Drafts

Have you ever been consumed by a book? So much so that you felt like you were transported to a new place?

In a recent podcast episode of The Tim Ferriss Show, Greg McKeown shared his thoughts on the power of books in transporting readers:

"...every book is potentially a portal, it takes you there in time and place...You suddenly experienced this whole other world..."

Greg's thought made me think about how manuscripts and proposals are portals that transport readers into the world of research and ideas.

His thought also made me think about how we as writers have the power to design portals that transport readers into the story we are writing. And this portal can create an experience that influences how our readers think, act, and feel.

So in essence, you can use your writing to design a portal and create an experience that helps you persuade readers.

That's powerful.

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

💌 Round-up

📆 Upcoming

​Connection Compass: Create Flow that Guides Readers Through Your Writing – March 27, 2024, 10 am PT
I was thrilled when the American Medical Writers Association invited me to give my 2023 conference presentation as a webinar that anyone can attend. During this webinar, I'll share how writers can apply valuable writing principles to create a smooth flow that guides readers through the content, builds on their knowledge, and keeps them engaged in the writing.

👓 Reading

Why Stating Hypotheses in Grant Applications Is Unnecessary​
“Rather than the superfluous guesses such as “Our hypothesis is that statins do not increase the risk of cancer,” grant applications should describe the question researchers are asking, why they are asking it, and how they propose to answer it.”

​Communicating Medicine—A New JAMA Series​
"JAMA is launching an Insights series titled “Communicating Medicine” as a forum to introduce strategies for the clinician to improve communication of medicine and health-related topics to patients."

​Delivering Effective Messages in the Patient-Clinician Encounter​
"Clinicians have 4 communicative responsibilities to ensure shared and accurate understanding with their patients: (1) uncover what the patient understands and why, (2) provide accurate information in an understandable way, (3) promote the credibility of the information, and (4) check for shared understanding."

💭 Thoughts

Be brave enough to write a bad first draft.

Be humble enough to refine it.

✅ Action

Think about a book that transported you to a different world. What did the author do to create that portal? And how can you emulate that in your writing?

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: Handwriting, Citation Cartels, and Fonts Hanging OutInboxSearch for all messages with label Inbox

In this digital era, you might be surprised to learn that the pen is mightier than the keyboard when it comes to your memory.

According to a new study, writing by hand can improve your spelling and memory recall. In the study, the research team found that brain connectivity patterns were more elaborate when writing by hand than when typing on a keyboard.

I've experienced this phenomenon firsthand. And several studies, including this one and this one, found that handwriting notes in your own words enhances your learning and understanding.

That's why I still write morning pages every day, keep a notepad and pen on my desk, and use printed checklists with notes sections while I work.

Do you still put pen to paper? How has it helped your learning and memory?

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

💌 Round-up

🎉 Featured

​Understanding Authorship in a Changing World​
I was delighted when the American Medical Writers Association invited me to help develop an authorship guide for medical writers. In this article, you can learn about the different types of authorship, the role of medical writers in authorship, and case studies that can help you navigate difficult authorship situations. Pair this article with my Best Practices to Guide Decisions of Authorship and Author Order in a Research Manuscript, and you'll have everything you need to determine authorship for your team.

👓 Reading

​Citation cartels help some mathematicians—and their universities—climb the rankings​
"Cliques of mathematicians...have been artificially boosting their colleagues’ citation counts by churning out low-quality papers that repeatedly reference their work. . . These so-called 'citation cartels' appear to be trying to improve their universities’ rankings, according to experts in publication practices. 'The stakes are high—movements in the rankings can cost or make universities tens of millions of dollars'...."

​Use of plain language summaries in anaesthesia journals​
“We found that only 30% of anaesthesia journals had easy-to-read summary articles, and only three of these were aimed specifically at non-medical/lay readers. This suggests that while some journals are starting to adopt plain language summaries, there is still a significant gap in making research accessible to a broader audience. Additionally, while there has been an increase in the publication of plain language summaries over the last decade, we found that these were mostly not published as open access.”

…Oh, and if you want to learn more about crafting plain language summaries, check out our Lay Summary Fundamentals course.

🖥️ Watching

​Fonts Hanging Out​
In this clever Instagram reel, you can watch a fun take on what a conversation might be among a group of fonts. As a fan of sans-serif fonts (particularly Helvetica), I had a good chuckle. I hope it adds a moment of fun to your day.

📝 Experiment

The next time you want to cite a reference, pause to ask yourself what your intentions are in citing that reference. Are you self-citing just to increase your citation count? Are you citing another researcher because you think they might be a reviewer for the journal? Or are you citing a reference that meaningfully supports your work and interpretations?

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: Giving, Time, and Author Contributions

When I was a kid, my mom would make huge batches of homemade soup, bread, and jam. While the bread was still warm from the oven, she would wrap it up tightly in towels to keep it warm and then load it into the car along with mason jars of soup and jam. Then we would drive all over town to leave the treats on her friends' doorsteps. She would tell me to drop the treats at the door, ring the doorbell, and then run back to the car so we could take off before we were noticed.

I had so much fun delivering treats with my mom. And it taught me an important value.

Giving.

To this day, I leave "treat surprises" for my friends and neighbors. But my philosophy of giving doesn't stop there. It also extends into my work. I want to give researchers and other professional writers like you the tools you need to write well and advance your career.

That's why I created the Scientific Writing Masterclass—to equip you with the principles, resources, and systems you need to write well. And that's why I also expanded the course to include a community. This community creates a platform where I and other members of the community can give you ongoing support with your writing.

I'd be thrilled to support you in the masterclass and The Grove community. But doors close on Monday, so you'll need to enroll soon.

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

💌 Round-up

💻 From My Desk

​The Best Order to Draft a Research Manuscript​
When you write a manuscript, do you start with the Introduction section? Although you might start with the Introduction when reading a manuscript, you don't want to start with this section when writing a manuscript. Writing your manuscript in a different order than you read it can save you time and energy.

👓 Reading

​Is it time to change our approach to reporting author contributions?​
“Rechavi and Tomancak’s approach involves assigning credit to each result in a manuscript. They ‘argue that it should be known who thought of each idea, who ran each experiment, and who analysed the data.’ But how exactly would this be achieved? The authors propose two ways. Rechavi suggests substituting the word ‘we’ for the names of specific, responsible authors. For instance, ‘we sequenced RNA’ would become ‘Rechavi sequenced RNA’. Alternatively, Tomancak proposes assigning a number to each author in the author list and citing these for each contribution. For example, ‘we sequenced RNA1’ would credit the first author in the author list.”

🧰 Tools

​Harvest​
After testing different tools to track my time, I finally landed on Harvest. I like the user interface, customizability, and reporting options. Even if you do not need to track time for your work, I recommend tracking your time for at least one month. You might be surprised to learn how much time you spend writing, answering emails, and attending meetings.

...Oh, if you want access to our ongoing list of helpful tools, we just added a resource library to The Grove community in our Scientific Writing Masterclass. You can get access to our growing list of resources, including writing tips, management tools, funding opportunities, and much, much more.

💬 Quote

“Getting good at communication—particularly written communication—is an investment worth making. My best advice for communicating clearly is to first make sure your thinking is clear and then use plain, concise language.” – Sam Altman

📝 Experiment

The next time you whip up a batch of treats or visit a bakery, leave a "treat surprise" for your friend, colleague, or neighbor. If you'd like, you can also leave a little note so they know the treat is from you.

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: Investments, Data Sharing, and Short Peer Reviews

What do you think is the best investment you can make?

Many people jump to thinking about savings, retirement, buying a house, etc. Although these assets are valuable, I don't think they are the best investment you can make.

I think the best investment you can make is in yourself.

Unfortunately, many of us let investing in ourselves fall low on our list of priorities. We put it off—sometimes indefinitely—until we have more time, money, or motivation.

But investing in yourself by learning new skills and developing your mindset can enrich your life personally and professionally in so many ways. And investing in yourself can lead to growth in your career, relationships, health, and more.

I like to invest in myself daily by reading non-fiction books while I drink my coffee in the morning. I also invest in myself annually by allocating time and money to participate in professional development programs, such as courses, conferences, and workshops. These investments have come back to me many times over.

Do you have a practice of investing in yourself?

If you're thinking about investing in your writing skills, I hope you will join me in the Scientific Writing Masterclass. I'd be thrilled to have you. Enrollment is open until January 29, 2024.

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

💌 Round-up

💻 From My Desk

​How to Request Funds for Professional Development Programs​
Although your institution may not offer professional development programs in scientific and medical writing, they may support you by sponsoring your participation. After all, these programs benefit you and the organization. If you want to request resources to participate in a professional development program, such as the Scientific Writing Masterclass, you can follow this easy four-step process.

👓 Reading

Prevalence of Short Peer Reviews in 3 Leading General Medical Journals​
"In this study of 3 leading general medical journals, one-fifth of initial editorial decisions for published articles were likely based at least partially on reviews of such short length [>200 words] that they were unlikely to be of high quality."

​Data Sharing — A New Era for Research Funded by the U.S. Government​
“Many journals now require data-sharing statements in published articles, but studies have shown that authors rarely honor these statements and data generally aren’t made available upon request.”

💬 Quote

"Ultimately, there’s one investment that supersedes all others: Invest in yourself. Nobody can take away what you’ve got in yourself, and everybody has potential they haven’t used yet." – Warren Buffet

📝 Experiment

Take a moment to think about the last opportunity you took to invest in yourself. How did that opportunity benefit you? Now what do you plan to do next to invest in yourself again?

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: SMARTER Goals, Research Management, and a Two-Word Theory

The new year tends to spark a surge in goal setting. But many of us set goals without creating a plan of the actionable steps we need to take to accomplish those goals. And in the words of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, "A goal without a plan is just a wish."

I like to create SMART—Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound—goals. I have found this strategy to be really helpful in planning the steps I need to take to accomplish my goals.

But I recently learned about an expanded form of this approach: SMARTER. This expansion adds the criteria Evaluate and Reward, which are really important parts of accomplishing your goals.

We need to continually evaluate our progress to help us stay accountable, and we need to reward ourselves and celebrate our wins.

I'm going to add ER to my SMART goal-setting practices moving forward. And I hope that you will experiment with them too.

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

💌 Round-up

👓 Reading

​How research managers are using AI to get ahead​
This article shares several ways that research staff are using AI for research management. "For those at the interface of funding organizations and the scientific community, platforms such as ChatGPT can tackle menial tasks and free up time for relationship-building work such as coaching and mentoring."

​Guest Post — Hanging in the Balance: Generative AI Versus Scholarly Publishing​
"The issues with generative AI chatbots are known: accountability, potential to propagate bias, and not-always-reliable accuracy. But they can also help us humans to think in different and creative ways, and to streamline tedious tasks, which may ultimately be a boon for burdened researchers."

🖥️ Watching

Writing Advice from Matt Stone & Trey Parker @ NYU​
In this 2-minute clip, the creators of South Park share how a simple theory with two words—"but" and "therefore"—drives their approach to creating connections in their stories. I've been playing around with this theory, and I think it might help some writers avoid gaps in logic in their writing.

🧰 Tools

​Strava​
This tool might seem unusual to include in this newsletter, because it's not related to writing. But I've been a fan of Strava since I was an avid cyclist and still use the app as a runner. I find the app helps me stay accountable, connect with friends for kudos, and track my progress. If you're not a cyclist or runner, the app includes an array of exercises to help you track your fitness progress and goals.

📝 Experiment

On a fresh sheet of paper, write your biggest goal for this year at the top. Then write the letters S-M-A-R-T-E-R in a column down the left-hand side of page. Next to each letter, write down the relevant details of your plan to accomplish that goal. Now tape/pin that piece of paper somewhere where you will see it every day.

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: Goals, Energy, and Promotion

Happy New Year!

Did you make a New Year's resolution?

I stopped making them years ago. The only resolution I've ever kept was to quit smoking. (Yup, you read that right. I had a rebellious streak in my teenage years.)

Over the past couple of years, I've taken a different approach. Instead of creating a resolution, I choose a word to set my intentions for the year.

This year, my word is ENERGY.

Where we direct our energy reflects our priorities. This year, my intention is to better focus my energy on my list of top priorities. And YOU are on that list.

I've got some exciting things in the works for you this year, and I can't wait to share them with you. Stay tuned.

Now onto the first round-up of 2024...

💌 Round-up

👓 Reading

Presence and consequences of positive words in scientific abstracts​
“…this paper shows that in recent decades, scientific abstracts have not only become longer descriptions of research, but have also increasingly used positive language in describing their study results, thereby adopting a more promotional function….By triggering a low-threshold, positive affect through an excessive use of terms with positive connotations this trend can systematically impact the judgments of the respective abstracts in a way that is counterproductive to rigorous scientific practices.”

​How to get your writing found: Why medical writers and academics need to use search engine optimisation​
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the process of optimising your writing so that it can be found easily on the internet. There are five key steps that you can take to increase the discoverability of your work, which will be discussed below. These are:

• Choose your keywords carefully;

• Optimise your title;

• Optimise your abstract;

• Use your keywords throughout your article; and

• Build links to your work.”

🎧 Listening

​How to Set & Achieve Goals: 2 Surprising Science-Backed Steps You Must Follow - The Mel Robbins Podcast​
In this episode, Mel Robbins shares five mistakes that many of us make when setting goals. She also shares hacks to help you set achievable goals, including the two parts of a goal you need to factor in to ensure you accomplish that goal.

💭 Thoughts

Passive voice is not the enemy in scientific and medical writing.

Overuse of passive voice is the enemy.

📝 Experiment

Take a few minutes to think about a word to help you set your intentions for this year. Write that word on a sticky note and put it somewhere you will see it every day.

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: Reflection, Authorship, and Best of 2023

At the end of the year, I like to do a Past-Year Review. I typically follow the original strategy by Tim Ferriss. But this year, I did something a little different.

Like Tim suggests, I created lists of positive activities to prioritize and negative activities to avoid. But when I reviewed each item in my lists, I also asked myself why I listed the item in a particular category. This extra step helped me learn the root of what needs to be addressed.

For example, if a particular project made my negative list, was it because I didn't find the project inspiring? Or was it because the project was not well managed? Or was it because I was having a tough week?

Sometimes we just need to address the root of the problem rather than avoid the problem altogether.

Do you have a practice for reflecting on the past year? Hit reply and let me know. I'd love to learn other ways that I can reflect and grow.

Now onto the last round-up of 2023...

💌 Round-up

🎉 Featured

Best Practices to Guide Decisions of Authorship and Author Order in a Research Manuscript​
I'm delighted to share my latest publication in the AMWA Journal. In the article, I share how to determine who qualifies for authorship, in what order authors should be listed, and strategies for how teams can prevent authorship conflict when writing a research manuscript.

💻 From My Desk

Top 10 Scientific and Medical Writing Articles in 2023​
I recently reviewed which of my resource articles were most read during the past year. This review helps me learn what resources you find most useful so that I can create more resources to help you become the best writer you can be. This article includes my 10 most-read articles on scientific and medical writing in 2023.

🎧 Listening

​Super Brain: 10 Things to Eat, Think, & Do to Improve Your Memory and Learn Faster​
In this episode of The Mel Robbins Podcast, Jim Kwik shares how to read faster, how to remember someone's name, and how you can better retain information with visualization strategies.

🧰 Tools

​How to play background music on Zoom—without sharing your screen​
I recently hosted an online workshop and wished that I could play background music while the attendees worked on their exercises. So I looked up whether it was possible to play music in a Zoom meeting—and it is!

💬 Quote

“We do not learn from experience… we learn from reflecting on experience.” – John Dewey

📝 Experiment

Before the end of the year, take 45-60 minutes to do a Past-Year Review. Then take the added step of asking yourself why each item landed in the positive or negative category. Did you learn anything that surprised you?

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: Excellence, Integrity, and Popular Papers

Do you often wish that you could write the perfect first draft?

Many authors strive for perfection in their writing. Personally, I think "perfect" is unattainable for any draft, let alone a first draft.

The word "perfect" suggests that something is completely free from faults or defects. And I believe that there is always room for improvement, even if we don't see how in the moment.

Have you ever read something that you felt proud to publish only to discover a typo or other error you wish you could fix? I sure have.

So rather than strive for perfection in your writing (and life), strive for excellence. Do the very best you can do.

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

💌 Round-up

🎉 Featured

​Most Popular Papers​
​I was delighted to discover that my article, "Inclusive Language Matters: Recommendations for Health Care Providers to Address Implicit Bias and Equitable Health Care," is among the top five most popular papers downloaded from the Journal of Maine Medical Center.

...Oh, and if you want to learn more about inclusive language, you can enroll in my Inclusive Language Course—for free!

👓 Reading

​Notice to research community: Use of generative artificial intelligence technology in the NSF merit review process​
"To safeguard the integrity of the development and evaluation of proposals in the merit review process, this memo establishes guidelines for its use by reviewers and proposers:

• NSF reviewers are prohibited from uploading any content from proposals, review information and related records to non-approved generative AI tools.

• Proposers are encouraged to indicate in the project description the extent to which, if any, generative AI technology was used and how it was used to develop their proposal."

​Author reports of potential conflicts of interest: room for improvement​
“Inaccurate author disclosures continue to be an issue in medical publishing. A recent study shows that most authors fail to report, or under-report, ‘potential conflicts of interest’.”

​Detecting generative artificial intelligence in scientific articles: Evasion techniques and implications for scientific integrity​
“AI detectors have low efficiency, and simple modifications can allow even the most robust detectors to be easily bypassed. The rapid development of generative AI raises questions about the future of scientific writing but also about the detection of scientific fraud, such as data fabrication.”

💭 Thoughts

Be brave enough to write a bad first draft.

Be humble enough to refine it.

📝 Experiment

The next time you sit down to write, add the statement “Strive for excellence, not perfection” to the header of your document. Then as you write the draft, you will get gentle reminders to focus on doing your best.

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: Creativity, Statistics, and Gifts for Writers

Do you consider scientific and medical writing as creative?

Many scientists and clinicians think that writing manuscripts and grant proposals is technical writing that does not require creativity. But writing is a creative process, even if you're writing about something technical.

If you're not sure you agree, I highly recommend that you read The Creative Act by Rick Rubin. I recently finished this book and was incredibly impressed with the author's insight and advice—too much to share in this little newsletter. I borrowed the audiobook from my local library and have every intention of buying a hardcopy that I can take notes in, so you know it's good.

Now onto the other good stuff...

💌 Round-up

🎉 Featured

​Elected Vice-President/President-elect for the AMWA Northern California Chapter​
I'm thrilled to share that I was elected the 2024 Vice-President/President-elect and the Communications Committee Chair for the AMWA Northern California Chapter. I'm so excited to continue supporting the chapter and its remarkable community of medical writers.

👓 Reading

​Introducing the Guide to Statistics and Methods: A New Series for JAMA Internal Medicine​
"JAMA Internal Medicine is...introducing a new series, the Guide to Statistics and Methods, intended to help clinician readers more fully understand and interpret scientific articles...The focus of each...article will be a specific statistical method applied in a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine and will address why one should apply that statistical method vs another approach. These articles will explain how the findings from the specific statistical method used in the accompanying...article should be interpreted, including consideration of its limitations, potential for bias, and generalizability.”

​Randomized Clinical Trial Visual Abstract Display and Social Media–Driven Website Traffic​
“Linking VAs [visual abstracts] were associated with increased link clicks compared with expandable VAs and article figures. Expandable VAs were associated with increased impressions and engagement compared with linking VAs and article figures.”

🎁 Gifting

​Your 2023 Guide to Holiday Gifts for Writers​
Are you looking for a holiday gift for a writer (or yourself)? Check out this incredible list of gifts for the word nerds in your life. I've got my eye on the Scone with the Wind cookbook and book puzzle.

💬 Quote

"To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science." – Albert Einstein

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: Multitasking, Feedback, and Significant Results

Do you tend to think you're good at multitasking?

I think that many of us like the idea of multitasking. We dream of juggling many different tasks so that we can accomplish more in less time.

But multitasking is a fallacy. Your brain is wired to process only one task at a time. So when you think you're multitasking, you're actually switching between tasks over and over.

When you switch your attention from one task to another, you incur the cognitive switching penalty. Your brain spends extra time and energy adjusting to the context of each task as you switch tasks. And the more tasks you juggle, the more your ability to do each task well suffers.

How can you avoid the cognitive switching penalty? Use strategies that help you focus on one task at a time. Here are a few of my favorite strategies.

• Turn off all notifications. You can even log out of messaging and social media apps. The additional step of needing to log back in will help you resist the temptation to take a quick peek.

• Put your phone on Do Not Disturb mode. Better yet, put your phone in a different room. Just having your phone nearby reduces your cognitive capacity.

• Batch communication tasks. Rather than spend 10 minutes every hour replying to emails, dedicate a block of 30 minutes each day to process emails.

What strategies do you use to avoid the cognitive switching penalty?

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

💌 Round-up

💻 From My Desk

​When to Use Continual vs Continuous​
Some authors use the term continuous as a synonym for continual. Although these terms may seem similar, their definitions have important nuances that distinguish their meanings.

👓 Reading

​Writing to Think​
"Writing is the process by which you realize that you do not understand what you are talking about. Of course, you can learn a lot about something without writing about it. However, writing about something complicated and hard to pin down acts as a test to see how well you understand it. When we approach our work as a stranger, we often discover how something that seems so simple in our heads is explained entirely wrong."

​The role of results in deciding to publish: A direct comparison across authors, reviewers, and editors based on an online survey​
“Our findings suggest that statistically significant findings have a higher likelihood to be published than statistically non-significant findings, because (1) authors…are more likely to write up and submit articles with significant results compared to articles with non-significant results…; (2) reviewers…give more favourable reviews to articles with significant results compared to articles with non-significant results…; and (3) editors…are more likely to accept for publication articles with significant results compared to articles with non-significant results…”

🎧 Listening

​How to Master the Difficult Art of Receiving (and Giving) Feedback - The Tim Ferriss Show​
In this podcast interview, Sheila Hein and Tim Ferris give great insight on writing. They share their thoughts on how writing communicates with the reader's internal voice, how writers need to meet readers where they are, how to ask for feedback on writing, and much more. If you don't want to listen to the full 2.5-hour episode, listen from about 24:00 to 55:00 to get the most valuable nuggets of writing wisdom.

📝 Experiment

The next time you sit down to write, turn off your notifications for 1 hour and notice how your focus and productivity improve.

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: Gifts, Inspiration, and Favorite Things

Welcome to a special holiday edition of the Interlude!

It's officially the holiday season, so I thought I'd share a short round-up of my favorite things that you might want to add to your gift list. I regularly use all these products. (These recommendations are not sponsored.)

I hope they inspire you to find the perfect gift for someone special (or yourself 😜).

💌 Round-up

⏰ A Gift of Time

​TextExpander​
The greatest gift we can give is time. And TextExpander has saved me many hours of work since I started using it last year. I highly recommend this tool to anyone who finds that they are writing the same text over and over again in emails, comments, documents, and more. This tool works across all programs on your computer.

☕️ A Gift of Warmth

​Corkcicle Mug​
On cold days, I like to enjoy a warm cup of tea while I work. After my tea quickly got cold in a coffee cup, a friend gifted me one of these mugs. It keeps my tea hot for hours. And the lid prevents major spills when I accidentally knock the mug over (which has happened a time or two ).

📔 A Gift of Growth

​The Five Minute Journal​
I have been using this journal for many years now. I love how in only five minutes in the morning and evening, you can cultivate gratitude and mindfulness with just a few simple prompts. The only thing I'd change is to add a hyphen to correct the name to "The Five-Minute Journal." 😉

🖊️ A Gift of Ease

Pentel EnerGel Pens​
I have met many writers that have a thing about pens, and I'm definitely one of them. These pens roll smoothly and don't bleed with my small handwriting. I have them in several colors and keep a backup supply of refills at all times.

🎧 A Gift of Safety

​Aftershokz Aeropex Headphones​
I enjoy running, mostly on trails but also on the road. These headphones allow you to hear the wildlife and cars while also listening to your favorite podcast, audiobook, or music while out and about. They have great sound quality, a battery that lasts for 8 hours, and are completely waterproof. The microphone also works well for phone calls and virtual meetings.

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: Apologizing, Reframing, and Hijacking

Do you tend to apologize when you don't immediately reply to emails?

Perhaps you've opened an email with "I'm sorry for my delay in replying." Or "I'm sorry it took me so long to get back to you."

I had this habit for a long time. The phrase "I'm sorry" became an automatic reply out of politeness rather than a genuine (or even needed) apology.

Although some situations call for a true apology, a delayed email often isn't one of them.

So a couple of years ago, I started taking a different approach. Rather than open an email with an apology, I would open with words of appreciation: "Thanks for your patience while I replied."

According to research, this reframing shows appreciation that helps to boost the recipient's self-esteem and satisfaction. This reframing also sets a positive tone by showing respect for the recipient and their time, while also respecting your own time. And this appreciation and respect can help to foster a stronger and more meaningful relationship.

This approach also works in other situations.

Did you arrive late to lunch?

Apology: "I'm sorry. I got stuck in traffic."
Reframe: "Thank you for waiting. I got stuck in traffic."

Did you talk your colleagues ear off?

Apology: "I'm sorry I rambled."
Reframe: "Thank you for listening to me."

Did your meeting run late?

Apology: "I'm sorry we went over."
Reframe: "Thank you for staying a few extra minutes while we sorted out the next steps."

So the next time you find yourself apologizing unnecessarily, use language that reframes your response to appreciation.

Now onto the good stuff...

💌 Round-up

👓 Reading

​Your Email Does Not Constitute My Emergency​
"The more recipients believed they needed to respond quickly, the more stressed they felt — and the more they tended to struggle with burnout and work-life balance. The stress was mitigated when senders took a simple step: communicating their expectations. Just saying something like 'This isn’t urgent, so get to it whenever you can' was enough to alleviate the perceived pressure to respond quickly."

​My journal was hijacked: an editor’s experience​
"Journal hijacking is a growing problem and a threat to the entire scientific community. Hijacked journals are scam websites that impersonate legitimate journals and attempt to take over their brand...By stealing the brand, web domain, or the serial number used to identify a publication, cybercriminals try to lure researchers into paying for publications."

🧰 Tools

​Just Not Sorry​
This Chrome Extension for Gmail and Outlook warns you when you use phrases such as "I'm sorry" and many other phrases that can undermine your message. I've used the extension for many years and really appreciate when it flags messages that I can refine to send more confident and appreciative emails.

💬 Quote

“Appreciation can make a day, even change a life. Your willingness to put it all into words is all that is necessary.” — Margaret Cousins

📝 Experiment

The next time you default to writing an unnecessary "I'm sorry" in an email, delete the phrase and replace it with "Thank you."

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: Self-Help Books, Self-Editing Tactics, and Simplified Peer Review

I love a good self-help book. I always learn something that is helpful in some way. But what I love most is drawing correlations with writing.

I recently read an article that claimed that every self-help book ever written could be boiled down to 11 simple rules:

1. Take one small step.

2. Change your mental maps.

3. Struggle is good. Scary is good.

4. Instant judgment is bad.

5. Remember the end of your life.

6. Be playful.

7. Be useful to others.

8. Perfectionism = procrastination.

9. Sleep, exercise, eat, chill out. Repeat.

10. Write it all down.

11. You can’t get it all from reading.

I think all these rules also apply to writing. Below are a few examples that relate to each rule.

1. Take one small step. ➡️ Break up writing tasks into small chunks.

2. Change your mental maps. ➡️ Visualize your writing goal and plan steps to achieve it.

3. Struggle is good. Scary is good. ➡️ Our struggles with writing help to clarify our thinking.

4. Instant judgment is bad. ➡️ Pause before sending an email after Reviewer #2 rejects your paper.

5. Remember the end of your life. ➡️ Writing is a way to leave a legacy.

6. Be playful. ➡️ Have fun with writing, even if it’s hard.

7. Be useful to others. ➡️ Use your writing strengths to help others.

8. Perfectionism = procrastination. ➡️ Procrastinating on your writing could be because you are expecting perfection.

9. Sleep, exercise, eat, chill out. Repeat. ➡️ Take care of your mind and body so that you are at your best for writing.

10. Write it all down. ➡️ Create a collection bucket to capture your ideas and writing snippets.

11. You can’t get it all from reading. ➡️ You need to do the work and recognize your limitations to make progress in your writing.

What examples do you have for these rules?

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

💌 Round-up

💻 From My Desk

​10 Tactics to Help You Stop Overlooking How You Can Improve Your Writing​
Editing your own writing can be challenging. Although you might think that you can just edit your own writing, often you are so close to the work that you can easily overlook the problems in the writing. Here are 10 tactics to help you avoid overlooking how your writing can be improved.

👓 Reading

Simplified Peer Review Framework​
Last week, the NIH held an online briefing on their Simplified Peer Review Framework that will go into effect for most research grants submitted on or after January 25, 2025. "The Simplified Framework for NIH Peer Review Criteria retains the five regulatory criteria (Significance, Investigators, Innovation, Approach, Environment) but reorganizes them into three factors — two will receive numerical criterion scores and one will be evaluated for sufficiency. All three factors will be considered in arriving at the Overall Impact score."

​3 Verbs You Just Don’t Need in Health Comm​
Here are "3 verbs you can cut from your plain language vocabulary once and for all. They’re all common in health comm, and they all have one-to-one swaps — which means you really never need to use them... “Administer,” “ensure,” and “utilize” have no place in your plain language health content — they’re just too easy to swap out!"

💭 Thoughts

Be brave enough to write a bad first draft.

Be humble enough to refine it.

📝 Experiment

Are you concerned that you are overlooking how you can improve your draft? Try one of the tactics in this article. Better yet, collaborate with a professional editor.

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: Nervousness, Authorship Metrics, and Unbiased Science

Do you feel nervous before giving a presentation?

Most people fear public speaking, so I imagine that I am not alone in feeling nervous before giving a presentation. I often feel my heart racing and get butterflies in my stomach.

But last week, when I was getting ready to give a presentation in front of a large group, I wanted to shift my mindset around my feelings. Before getting on stage, I told myself that my feelings were not due to nervousness, but rather to excitement. I told myself that I was excited to get on that stage to present. And I was surprised to find that this shift in thinking helped to calm my nerves.

So the next time you feel nervous, try telling yourself that you are excited instead. You might be surprised at how the shift in your mindset will make you feel more confident or at ease.

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

💌 Round-up

👓 Reading

​Peer Review and Scientific Publication at a Crossroads​
"The premise of all Peer Review Congresses is that peer review and scientific publication must be properly examined, tested, and corrected in the same way the scientific method and its products are applied, vetted, weighted, and interpreted....we encourage research in any area of work that may be relevant to peer review and scientific publication, including novel empirical investigations of processes, biases, policies, and innovations. "

​A Complement to the H-Index: A Metric Based on Primary Authorship​
"...we propose a simple metric to quantify research output in a fashion amenable for today's changing patterns of authorship. We call this metric the “pa-index,” for primary author index, which takes into account the first and last author publications of an author. This way we have a metric that uniquely focuses on the publications where a given author took a leading role."

🎧 Listening

​The Unbiased Science Podcast​
I had the pleasure of hearing the podcast hosts, Drs. Jessica Steier and Andrea Love, speak at the AMWA conference last week. Their podcast is "devoted to objective, critical appraisal of evidence on health topics relevant to our daily lives." And they have done a great job of bringing an unbiased perspective to a variety of topics in science, from disease to food to pets and much more.

🧰 Tools

​Linktr.ee​
As I was getting ready to attend an annual conference last week, I decided to try something different this year. Instead of handing out paper business cards, I created a Linktr.ee page. Then I downloaded a QR code that would point to my page and saved the code to my photos (or you can save it as your background). As I met people, I pulled up the QR code for easy scanning. I really like the modern way to share my contact information.

📝 Experiment

The next time you feel nervous before an important event, take a moment to reframe the situation so you can shift your mindset to feeling excited instead.

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: Presentations, Hunting, and Fabrication

This week's intro will be short and sweet (like a mini cupcake ).

I'm currently connecting with other word nerds, wordsmith wizards, and communication gurus at a conference hosted by the American Medical Writers Association (AMWA). If you're a medical writer or editor (or an aspiring one), I highly recommend that you check out AMWA.

And if you're attending the AMWA conference, please keep an eye out for me (or attend my education session!). I'd love to meet you in person.

Let's get to the good stuff...

💌 Round-up

💻 From My Desk

​10 Things to Avoid Saying in Your Research Presentation​
As I get ready for my presentation tomorrow, I'm reviewing my list of phrases to avoid saying in a presentation. The phrases that have been hardest for me to stop saying include "As you can see" and "Um." What phrases do you want to avoid saying in your presentation?

📆 Upcoming

​Find Your Flow: Connect Ideas to Guide Readers Through Your Writing – October 28, 2023
Tomorrow, I'll be speaking at the American Medical Writers Association conference in Baltimore, MD. At this in-person event, I’ll be speaking about how to synthesize your writing to create a smooth flow that guides readers through your writing with ease.

👓 Reading

​The hunter or the hunted: why do authors publish in predatory journals?​
"A review of the limited literature on author motivations highlighted 2 main reasons authors opt for predatory journals:

• lack of awareness about a journal’s dubious reputation

• unethical motivations, including incentives tied to career advancement and disillusionment with traditional academic publishing."

​Fabrication and errors in the bibliographic citations generated by ChatGPT​
"Within this set of documents, 55% of the GPT-3.5 citations but just 18% of the GPT-4 citations are fabricated. Likewise, 43% of the real (non-fabricated) GPT-3.5 citations but just 24% of the real GPT-4 citations include substantive citation errors. Although GPT-4 is a major improvement over GPT-3.5, problems remain."

🧰 Tools

​How to Track Changes in Microsoft PowerPoint​
I've always wished that PowerPoint had a track-changes feature like Word. So I was thrilled to learn that you can compare slide versions to find out what was changed between versions. Check out this tutorial for step-by-step instructions to track changes made to a PowerPoint presentation.

📝 Experiment

The next time you're preparing for a talk, record yourself while you practice (you can use Zoom or even PowerPoint). Then watch the video to help you learn how you can improve your presentation.

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: Collecting Books, Hype Terms, and Interactive Papers

Last week, I was browsing books at a thrift store and realized that I quickly had an armful of books that I wanted to purchase. I kept asking myself whether I really needed more books, because I already have a tall stack of TBR ("to be read") books at home.

Then I remembered an article that shared how reading one book often inspires us to read more books, which fuels the growth of the TBR stack.

The author proposes that instead of buying more books, we can create a "want to read" list and whittle our TBR pile to books that we will actually read soon.

I find these approaches helpful. I have a TBR list in an app, a TBR section on my bookshelf, and a TBR soon stack near my sofa, where I often read. And every few months, I browse my TBR books and list to see if I want to buy something or reorganize my TBR stack.

But I still can't resist buying books at thrift stores. Spending a few dollars on a wealth of information, experience, or imagery (all while supporting a good cause) is a thrill I can't seem to pass up.

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

💌 Round-up

🎉 Featured

Medical Writing Uncut - Write Clinic video podcast​
I was thrilled to speak with Virginia Chachati on her fantastic video podcast, Write Clinic. Check out the episode to hear our conversation on what led me to my career and Redwood Ink, what I wish I knew earlier in my career, and what are some of my top tips for writers and editors.

👓 Reading

​How ChatGPT and other AI tools could disrupt scientific publishing​
Although this article summarizes much of what has already been discussed on this topic, I found this excerpt rather interesting to think about: "In the age of LLMs [large language models], [Michael] Eisen pictures a future in which findings are published in an interactive, 'paper on demand' format rather than as a static, one-size-fits-all product. In this model, users could use a generative AI tool to ask queries about the experiments, data and analyses, which would allow them to drill into the aspects of a study that are most relevant to them. It would also allow users to access a description of the results that is tailored to their needs."

​Hype in research: do we have a problem?​
"An analysis of 360 articles published in leading journals across 4 scientific fields revealed that there are now twice as many ‘hype’ terms in each paper compared to 50 years ago. Additionally, reports indicate a 9-fold increase in the use of words such as ‘novel’, ‘innovative’, and ‘unprecedented’ in PubMed journals between 1974 and 2014."

🧰 Tools

​FigJam​
Do you wish that you could collaborate virtually with the benefit of a shared whiteboard? This program is a great tool for brainstorming, diagramming, strategy planning, and so much more. I'm looking forward to trying it out in my courses and live events.

📝 Experiment

Open the most recent draft of your writing and use the Find feature to search for hype words, such as "novel" and "innovative." How many times do you use these terms in that draft? How can you revise the text to be more persuasive without using these terms?

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: Inclusive Language, Survey Questions, and Disability Identity

I'm sending this week's newsletter a few days early because today is a very important day.

It's World Inclusion Day.

This day is dedicated to ensuring that people of all races, ethnicities, ages, abilities, genders, and other characteristics are accepted, welcomed, and treated equally. This day also celebrates the sense of belonging among all people so that they feel heard, valued, appreciated, and respected.

In honor of this day, I want to do what I can to support diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. And I think that one valuable thing I can do is help people learn about inclusive language.

So starting today, my Inclusive Language Course will be available for FREE! You can enroll through the course website.

​Click here to enroll​

Please spread the word so that more people can learn the power of inclusive language and how they can use inclusive language in their writing, clinical practice, and daily lives.

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

💌 Round-up

💻 From My Desk

How to Write for Equity and Inclusion in Medicine​
"We may not always be aware of the subtle ways that our language can (unintentionally) impart bias or judgment. Or how even small changes in a word or order of words can affect the meaning of our message. To help you become more aware of these nuances in your writing, here are some things to keep in mind when writing for equity and inclusion in science and medicine."

👓 Reading

Blindness transformed my social world, and I changed with it​
I was fortunate to meet the author of this article in my masterclass. I have learned so much from his expertise, perspectives, and outlook on his "enability." And his article is packed with mind-opening perspectives and stories that will touch your heart and soul. There were too many good excerpts to include in the newsletter. I recommend reading every word of the article.

​How to ask sensitive questions in surveys​
Do you use surveys in your research? This article shares 5 essential guidelines for how to ask sensitive questions in surveys.

1. Establish rapport before asking personal questions

2. Check for bias and don’t make assumptions

3. Lean into inclusive language​

4. Include context about why you’re asking a sensitive question

5. Be upfront about anonymity and how you're protecting data

​Six pregnancy terms you probably won’t hear again, including ‘high risk’ and ‘failed’​
"...many women were less concerned about the way their baby was born but with whether they had a positive experience and felt safe and listened to." The Royal College of Midwives now recommends avoiding the following terms: "delivery", "low risk" or "high risk", "normal", "emergency cesarean", "incompetent cervix", and "failure" or "failed".

💬 Quote

“When we prioritize using inclusive language that values and respects every individual, we create an atmosphere where everyone feels a sense of belonging and their contributions are valued. It's like building bridges that help us understand each other better and create a safe environment where everyone can be their authentic selves, do their best work, and thrive.” – Silvija Delekovcan

📝 Experiment

Open the latest draft of a manuscript, proposal, or other important document that you wrote. Read through the draft and revise the text to use inclusive language.

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal