I will get straight to the point.
I am a PhD student in Food and Nutritional Sciences; I have got to this stage by largely ignoring writing as a skill. I felt as if my skills in science (maths, physics, etc.) were the most important aspect to improve, so I spent most of my time working on science-related skills. As a consequence my writing skills are very low relative to my other skills, hence this blog.
My idea for this blog is to journal my progress through a Ph.D., as it is probably one of the most interesting things I will ever do. But mostly, it is to practice writing and eventually get good at it.
As I am writing this I have already written several months worth of posts; originally, I was not planning on posting them, but I think that there is no downside to me publishing these posts, as the worst thing that can happen is that I get bad feedback. In this instance, it still helps me improve my writing, so it is win-win as far as I can tell.
As I have previously mentioned, I am several months ahead of this initial post and only plan to release one a week. Becuase of this, my writing has already improved massively, and I am embarrassed to release some of the earlier posts. However, I believe that the journey is much more important than the end so I will release all my posts un-edited.
I intend on writing about more than just my thoughts on being a PhD student such as nutrition, finance, books I’m reading and general thoughts on life. So, if you would like to help me out and provide some feedback, I would greatly appreciate it.
I will remain anonymous for now.
Go here for an example of my first attempt at a blog post and here for the most recent.
You could check this post out, on my experience with WordPress, it was my most popular!
If you’re still here maybe we should connect on Twitter!
Good for you wanting to learn writing skills. This is often overlooked in a more electronic age, when folks expect their computer to ‘fix’ it for them. Likely by now you know that computers can only work with what they are given. In speaking, if what we say isn’t clear, we get feedback from others and can immediately clarify. But with writing, if what you say is confusing or misleading, you simply have confused readers – or worse, readers thinking you are saying something different than you are. Science, math, and even art still need to be well communicated for them to be effective. Someone had to write everything you read, and if that’s where you learned your science or math, you need it to be accurate and clear for you to understand and use the information.
Bravo to your efforts!
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Thank you! I am enjoying the new challenge of being a better writer.
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Hey thank you for liking my post. I ignore most proper writing skills my self! Thank you for the respinse!
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I share your thoughts, completely, having focused on science & math in my studies. All it takes is observation and application to gain this skill, ironically, the two core disciplines required in science and math. Go back to a book you loved reading and study how it was written. Write how you like to read. This same principle applies to building out SEO of your website. Write what people are searching for and not what you are trying to sell.
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I’m glad that you like my poems…all the best with your writing and the PhD
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Hello ljphd,
Just to say I don’t like the word ” blog” either. It sounds ugly to me, like a combination of the words ” blah” and ” log”.
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Yes! Also, the connotations that come with the word.
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Funny combination of words! Agreed, the word “blog” sounds ack.
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It does! BLOG has an ugly sound to it as you mentioned. Blah and log! Good one, and clever. Hopefully our BLOGS won’t be BLAH or like a log.
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Thanks for liking my Heliphone blog. As a foreign blogger in English it’s nice to get a positive reaction. I call myself ‘an author’ because I self-published five books in different areas, but my blog audience is still rather thin, so I wonder how you noticed me! There must be a way to get more readers like you. Till next time, johnschwartzauthor.com
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I have nominated you for the Mystery Blogger Award. 🙂
http://mylilplace.com
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Looking forward to the Award. Wonderful idea. Meanwhile I hope that my mystery will be resolved without a dead body.
All my best, John. http://johnschwartzauthor.comb/blog
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Very commendable and also very brave. It couldn’t have been easy to come back to writing after spending so much time doing something so fundamentally different. I wish you all the best of skill 🙂
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Thanks for your nice reaction. Writing fiction and blogging became a salvation after years of traveling and report writing. A whole new journey with much learning to do. One big reward: finding new friends who are rowing in the same boat!
Hope to hear more from you! http://johnschwartzauthor.com/blog
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I recently met someone who is in your same position, studying for a doctorate. She is getting serious about her writing. I will tell her about you. You can share your experiences. Keep writing!
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Thank you that would be great!
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Thanks so much, Annette! Please do. Studying for a doctorate is a hard thing to do. Our daughter got her PhD so I know all about that. Writing a dissertation and defending it successfully is very challenging. But I learned quickly that writing fiction or blogs is altogether a different kettle of fish than dissertations or reports as I had to do a lot in my life. Thanks for the reaction and all my best! http://johnschwartzauthor.com/blog
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This is definitely a good start to improving writing skills. Thanks for visiting and liking Inertia.
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Practice certainly makes it better. When I started, I could barely write legibly and my spelling was terrible, so good job for doing this. Reading a lot helps too. Good luck with your PhD!
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Congratulations on your successful journey!
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If you hate the word blog, what would you call it?
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Dear anonymous blogger,
I’m glad you liked my Politics post on my blog, Wish I Could Have Been There. I think you can never practice writing enough. Looking forward to following you.
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Good luck! Love reading about your writing journey.
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I applaud your efforts to improve! It’s more difficult as we age, but you will be taken more seriously by your peers if you know how to present yourself and your thoughts intelligently. Many people today don’t care, and it shows. Sad.
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Thanks Alexander!
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As a retired English prof, I certainly feel writing skills are important–and for everyone! You are wise to practice, for that’s the way to better writing and you can have some fun along the way writing about whatever strikes your fancy!
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When it is your native language it is easy to take for granted and ignore the fundamentals, which is what I think happened to me.
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In common with so many others, I am thoroughly enjoying reading your entertaining and interesting Blog. Admire the way in which you complement your writing with vivid examples to which I can relate.
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Thankyou Allen!
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Glad to learn you’ve taken the first step to improve your writing. You are in our league brother. Welcome and Kudos!
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Thanks man!
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I just read this and believe (if you still have the same attitude about your earliest posts) you’re missing a great opportunity to improve your writing (which is already quite good, in my opinion). That backlog of posts? EDIT them. Seriously. There is no better way to improve your writing than working over and improving something you wrote before you knew what you have learned since you wrote it.
At the risk of going to the dark side, here’s a link to a post I put up recently which has a discussion of editing, translating, and Isaac Babel’s brilliant, incredibly condensed, evocation of exactly what goes on when we edit. As I went to grab the link I saw you’ve read it (and thought it “awesome” according to the infallible WordPress bots), but, if you have 40 seconds some time, go to the last five short paragraphs and read Babel’s wonderful take on improving one’s writing:
https://gratuitousblahg.wordpress.com/2018/06/30/a-few-words-about-isaac-babel/
I also hate the word “blog” which is why I use the more accurate “blahg”.
Cheers.
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Thank you, I am reading it now! I shall report back.
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Wow! I love your candor! I just want to say if that is ok, that writing is (at least for me) not a destination. In my perspective, it is not a goal but an experience. Actually, for me YOU, MY FRIEND, HAVE LONG ARRIVED!😉
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Thanks for showing me a new word ‘candor’ I have never seen that before!
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Great!! May your candor allow you to sour, then! 🙂
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hahah! that’s so cute! i’m sure i would learn a word from you someday! keep writing, ok?
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I will, thanks for stopping by!
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Dear Writer of Anonymity,
It is easy to associate words based upon their similarities to other words as in the case of “blah”, “blob” and “blog”. Just as it is between castrate and castigate, where one is physically painful and the other mentally painful. With that, I wish you a great day. The Not So Anonymous Rural Iowegian
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Keep at it! You have a lot of wonderful things to say, and writing is the way to get them out to people who wouldn’t know you otherwise.
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You have nothing to apologize about your writing skills. And the desire to improve is a very good reason to write.
Lily
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Thanks Lily!
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You’re doing very well. This is excellent and a great idea.
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An excellent way to improve your writing skills. Blogging especially, is like tightrope walking without a net and forces you to be fearless. Thanks for the like!
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I too abhor the dreadful b word and refer to mine as “site”.
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I usually say site as well.
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Don’t tell me you also hate unwarranted Americanisms such as “Hi!” and “See you later” when you clearly *aren’t* going to see you later that day not to mention those baseball hats, especially if they advertise a corporation, a city or a sport team. 😦 We are not Americans however much they might want that.
https://bennaga.wordpress.com/2018/04/28/why-i-dont-2/
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Interesting! I’m doing very much a similar thing, writing through my PhD process.
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Cool, I’ll check out your site.
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Hi there,
Thank you for taking the time to read and like my blog bethulove! I really appreciate it.
I agree with you, the best way to improve something is to simply DO it! So good on you for “just following your heart and doing it”!
Looking forward to read you soon! Cheers, Bethula
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I’ve been following along for a while, now, and apologize for only getting in to comment today. I’ve found myself with a bit of extra time and I’m using all of it for reading and commenting on blogs to which I subscribe! I noticed another English professor up there in the comments congratulate you, and I wanted to do the same. I teach writing across the curriculum and do my best to help all of my students recognize how important writing is to virtually every possible career, even (perhaps especially!) STEM. Bravo to you, and I hope you’re getting a great deal out of this experience.
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Thanks for commenting! What is your most effective tool for convincing students to take learning how to write seriously? I am not sure what would have convinced me when I was younger.
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In certain classes, I’m able to design the coursework so that each student is reading and writing within their own discipline (and then, in discussion sessions, they get to “teach” their classmates about it). It helps make the connection “real” for them, and gives them practice understanding how/where writing happens in their fields, and what it takes to be taken seriously as a writer in _____ (engineering, health science, psychology, etc.) I once had a Math Education student, of all people, tell me it was his favorite class of the year because even in his education courses, he was never “taught” how to read and write lesson plans; he felt they just expected him to be able to do it.
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Good luck in your program….here’s a little website that sends PhD comics to you…http://phdcomics.com/comics.php .
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Thanks for that, I just fell into a black hole of procrastination!
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A tip you have probably heard a 1,000 times already: It’s a marathon and not a sprint. Yet as much as possible, do a little something everyday towards your goals and objectives, except on scheduled days off.
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Hmmmm I don’t see an issue with your writing skills…just saying. Looking forward to future posts. And congrats on going for your PhD. Wishing you the best of luck in all your endeavors.
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I just wanted to say, I think your writing skills are great! Lucky you, I am okay at writing, but can’t add up to save my life. X
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How is the money making going? I couldn’t find the post that says what you started with.
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Well, it’s a slow process. I have learnt a lot, but the money side of things is yet to take off. I am doing a course next month to try and shift my money blocks. Let’s see if it works…
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What was your baseline? I imagine you would have to get pretty lucky to go from zero to a million in one year.
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My baseline was zero….Yeah, either lucky or brilliant! I realise that I set the bar too high, BUT I still have four months left!
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Good luck! If I made half of that I would be set for life.
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Me too!
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This is pretty similar to my reason for starting my blog. Good luck to you.
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good luck! i know somebody else who is doing Ph.D and keeping a journal also. i want to do the same, too.
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I was so excited when the link brought me here! Food and nutritional science… one of my passions. I found you because you liked my recent post (thank you so much for your visit!). I don’t know if you have wandered in and around my blog, but if so you will have seen that one of my children is tube fed… and when he was three I did the unthinkable, went against medical advice and fed him FOOD! Can you just believe it?? Anyway, that is when my passion started. I hoped to study dietetics a couple of years ago, but parenting constraints have made that impossible. I look forward to reading you!
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Thanks for the “like.” Although I did write a lot in graduate work, the focus was for me learning my craft in psychology, and getting to know a whole lot about people:) Whatever your major is, enjoy it while you can, because when you graduate everyone expects you to know your stuff:) Wishing you success!
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The Sunshine Blogger Award was passed onto me and I’m now passing it onto you! No pressure to repost, just letting you know your work is appreciated (: https://wp.me/p4VDVv-6f
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Congratulations! Blogging is honestly one of the best ways to improve your writing! Practicing to write was my goal too when starting my blog! In fact, it is something that I often do with my own blog too! Can’t wait ti check out your posts and give you some feed back!
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I’m not sure if you are into this, but I nominated you for a sunshine blogger award! thekettleclicks.wordpress.com/2018/11/02/my-first-sunshine-blogger-award/
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Practice always improves any skill!
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