After more than a decade of reading the writing of academics, researchers, policy experts, and other people with deep — often highly technical — expertise, I’m writing a book, hoping to show you what I see, the befores and afters, and how you can adopt these techniques on your own. It’s aimed at you if you find yourself having to write at work (substantial stuff like grant applications, journal articles, reports, and other sorts of analyses) but never really learned how. If you’re not sure whether your writing is effective, whether it is prompting the action or change in perspective that you intend. If the writing advice you’ve received thus far in your education and career is either too abstract (spice this up!), unhelpful (don’t use jargon), or too specific (never start a sentence with a conjunction).
This blog stems from my desire to get inside your head. (Er, just the writing areas, thanks.) I’ve spent time immersed in hundreds of grants and reports and fact sheets and know the ins and outs of what expert writers produce. But I have much less clarity around your process. We’re all different; but I suspect that we also share a lot of struggles, puzzles, and questions. I hope you’ll read on and share your thoughts and experiences on the various aspects of writing as I bring them up (or if I don’t!).