Every now and then, I get an email from someone who’s keen to get into science writing and wants to know how I started. Whenever I reply, and I always try to, I’m always left with the nagging feeling that my experience is but one of a multitude of routes that people have taken. Science writing (whether you want to call it journalism, blogging, communication and so on) is a diverse field, as are the people working in it. It would be far more illuminating for a newbie to see a variety of stories rather than just one. This was the origin of this thread of origins. I will be asking science writers around the world to do what they do best - tell a story - about the thing they know best - themselves. This will be a perpetual thread that I hope will act as a lasting resource for the writers of tomorrow to take inspiration from. Some kind individuals have already submitted their stories and I hope that many more will chip in. You can already see that they're a varied bunch. Some stumbled into it by accident. Some came from traditional journalistic backgrounds. Others were bitten by a radioactive Carl Sagan. The more the stories accumulate, the better this diversity reveals itself. Who should contribute to this thread? Anyone who regularly writes about science, and preferably has been doing it for a couple of years now. I originally wanted to focus on science journalists but because all these definitions are bleeding into one, I’m opening it to all manner of science writers. From blogger to book writer, beginner to veteran, Asimov to Zimmer, tell us your story. What should I say? You’ll see from the existing entries (which are virtually unedited) that there’s a lot of variety in content, tone and length. This is as it should be – science writers are a diverse bunch and it would be a shame to edit them into uniformity. But essentially, there are two basic questions:
What do I do? Just stick a comment in with your story, who you are and what you do. If there are multiple links, it’ll be diverted to my spam folder, but just email or tweet me and tell me to rescue it. Alternatively, feel free to email your story and I’ll put it up on your behalf. How do I tell people about this? Obviously, the URL is above, but you can also link to this page from tinyurl.com/sciwriters and bit.ly/sciwritersWhat about regular comments? I’m not going to restrict people from posting regular comments initially, but I’d ask that readers keep them to a minimum. The thread’s value relies on the stories taking centre-stage. Other than that, go for it. Who has contributed? I'll keep a running list here, with links to their stories:
Carl Zimmer - blog; website, Twitter
Mark Henderson - Twitter
Tim Radford
Jonah Lehrer - blog, Twitter
Maggie Koerth-BakerTwitter
John Rennie - blog; Twitter
Steve Silberman - website,Twitter
Gaia Vince - blog; Twitter
Mary Carmichael - Twitter
Ivan Oransky - blog; Twitter
James RandersonTwitter
Deborah Blum - blog; Twitter
Oliver Morton - blog; Twitter
Melinda Wenner Moyer - website; Twitter
Jonathan Gitlin - Twitter
Raima Larter - blog; Twitter
Mohammed Yahia - Twitter
Steffie Tomson - blog
Jennifer Ouellette - blog; Twitter
Chris Lee aka Laserboy - blog
John Pavlus - blog; Twitter
Alice Bell - blog; Twitter
Ed Yong - blog (yes, this one); Twitter
Sandeep Gautam - blog
John Timmer - website; Twitter
Mun-Keat Looi - website; Twitter
Charles Seife - website; Twitter
Helen Fields - website
TR Gregory - blog; Twitter
JR Minkel - blog; Twitter
Cassandra Willyard - website; Twitter
Christopher Mims - blog; Twitter
Brendan Maher - Twitter
Rowan Hooper - Twitter
Yudhijit Bhattacharjee
Emilie Lorditch
Catherine Shaffer - website, Twitter
Apoorva Mandavilli -
Twitter
Ann Finkbeiner -
blog, Twitter
Eric Michael Johnson -
blog, Twitter
Emily Anthes -
website, Twitter
Carin Bondar -
website, Twitter
Michaelangelo D'Agostino - website, Twitter
Tom Levenson - blog, Twitter
Stephen Curry - blog, Twitter
Richard Conniff - blog
Alexandra Witze - Twitter
Sean Carroll - blog, Twitter
Emily Willingham - blog, Twitter
Maryn McKenna - blog, Twitter
Thomas Hager - blog, Twitter
Joanne Manaster - blog, Twitter
Matt Ford - blog
Marcia Bartusiak - website,
Barbara J King - website, Twitter
Virginia Hughes - blog, Twitter
TJ Kelleher - Twitter
Michelle Nijhuis - website, Twitter
Dan Vergano - column, Twitter
Edward Winstead - Twitter
Hillary Rosner - website, Twitter
Cristine Russell - Twitter
Kate Travis - Twitter
Peter Rodgers - Twitter
Jon Turney - website, Twitter
Christie Aschwanden - website
Andy Extance - blog, Twitter
Vivienne Raper - blog, Twitter
Priya Shetty - blog,
Kat Arney - blog, Twitter
Leila Sattary - website, Twitter
K. Kris Hirst - website
Dave Mosher - website, Twitter
Claire Ainsworth - Twitter
Paul Sutherland - website, Twitter
Nancy Shute - Twitter
Maria-Jose Vinas - website, Twitter
Ann Downer-Hazell - blog, Twitter
Heather Pringle - blog, Twitter
Emily Sohn - website, Twitter
Dan Fagin - website, Twitter
Mary Knudson - Twitter
Beth Azar
Anne Sasso - website
Adam Rutherford -
Twitter
Mike Lemonick - website
Dave Munger - website, Twitter
Sheril Kirshenbaum - blog, Twitter
Laurel Neme - website, Twitter
Richard van Noorden - Twitter
Jude Isabella - website
Matt Bille - website, Twitter
Becky Oskin - website,
Emil Viktor Nilsson - blog, Twitter
Jeff Hecht - website,
Rhett Allain - blog, Twitter
Alex Antunes - website,
Bora Zivkovic - blog, Twitter
Eoin Lettice - blog, Twitter
Steve Koppes - website, Twitter
Joerg Kurt Wegner - website, Twitter
Sally Church - blog, Twitter
J. Michael Quante, Twitter
Martin Fenner - blog, Twitter
Lewis Dartnell - website, Twitter
Catherine Dold - website, Twitter
Erik Klemetti - blog, Twitter
Carmen Drahl - Twitter
Boonsri Dickinson - website, Twitter
Pamela Ronald - blog
David Manly - blog, Twitter
Roger Highfield - Twitter
Tom Chivers - website, Twitter
Dan Ferber - website, Twitter
Emily Baldwin - Twitter
Kerri Smith - website, Twitter
Earle M. Holland - blog, Twitter
DeLene Beeland - blog, Twitter
Hannah Waters - blog, Twitter
David M. Lawrence - website
Michael Brooks - blog, Twitter
Cobi Smith - website, Twitter
Julia Heathcote - blog, Twitter
Alan Boyle - website, Twitter
Sarah Webb - blog, website, Twitter
Charlie Petit - blog
Todd I Stark - blog, Twitter
PalMD - blog, Twitter
Brian Switek - blog, Twitter
Jim Handman
Martin Robbins
Richard Grant
Fred Furtado
Henry Gee
Brain Clegg
Eva Amsen
Simon Frantz
Allen Salzberg
Catherine Schmitt
Gianluigi Fillippelli
Wendy Barnaby
David Bradley
Daniel Stolte
Tuan Nguyen
Catherine Brahic
http://steffietomson.wordpress.com/
