Am I crazy? Don’t I have enough on my plate already? Thanks to my AMWA colleagues, I was introduced to the world of free online courses at Coursera. Since graduating, I’ve often mentioned that it would be nice to go back to school – and now I can for free. I’m a little more than halfway through […]
Addicted to learning Read More »
I’m one year into my freelance career in biomedical writing and editing, and I just passed my two-year blogiversary. So, I suppose it’s time for me to take a look back and evaluate my progress. In general, freelancing boils down to balancing the need for financial security with the freedom to plan my own day. Freelancing is
Balancing freedom and security in a freelance career Read More »
Here’s the thing. There is descriptive research and there is experimental research. Descriptive research on its own can be informative and tell you something about a system, but at some point, you’ve got to get in there, change something, and see what happens. Just reporting on what you see under the microscope or on a blot
Descriptive vs. Experimental Research Read More »
Earlier this month I attended an excellent workshop on SBIR/STTR grants that was hosted by the Illinois Biotechnology Industry Association (iBio) PROPEL program, and was led by Lisa Kurek from Biotechnology Business Consultants. I decided to attend because I’ve touched just about every research and training grant mechanism from the NIH, but haven’t done much in the
Grantwriting for biotech? Sign me up! Read More »
I just finished working on an NIH training grant (T32) for the very first time, and I have to say, I had no idea. First off, a definition: the NIH T32 grant mechanism is “the primary means of supporting predoctoral and postdoctoral research training to help ensure that a diverse and highly trained workforce is available to
Training grants: I had no idea… Read More »
Been busy with several large center grants lately, so I thought I’d write a little something about what that’s like. Essentially, center grants–or program grants–bring together multiple investigators, each with their own project and research goal, into a single overarching program. Each project stands alone as its own R01, but must also link to all the other projects
Giving the vision a voice – program/center grants Read More »
2012 will be my first year as a completely independent freelance biomedical writer and editor. My freelance business has been through the various stages of hobby to side work to part time job to full time job, and this will be the first year that it represents all of my income. No pressure, right? When
On niches and boundaries Read More »
I wished I could have made it to 50 posts before the end of the year, but alas. In any case, I thought I’d do one more, before I plunge back into grant editing for the February NIH cycle. I was thinking about growth today – my professional growth as an individual writer and the
Thoughts on Growth Read More »
Wow. Be careful what you wish for, I guess. The last three months have been absolutely crazy-busy. Which isn’t necessarily bad for a freelance. Looking back, it took me years to decide to finally take the plunge and become a full-time freelance, but only a few months to reach full capacity. As much as I
2011 Freelance Retrospective Read More »
I recently took a grantsmanship course at Northwestern and my brain is now full. Seriously, though, I came away from the course with so much great information and advice that I could fill 10 blog posts, but I thought I would start with this: when writing a grant, always keep your audience in mind. For
Know your audience Read More »