Conversational Blogging for Professionals

In a fit of nostalgia for ye olde Muse Medicine, and because I clearly don’t have enough to do with my time, despite the 90 hours a week I put into this PhD program and the family who likes to see me occasionally *cough*… well, mostly out of nostalgia, I have been considering writing a blog on the science I’m doing. My first thought was to put it here, but there is something to be said for keeping one’s personal life and one’s professional life in separate silos.

That, and I haven’t given up on writing (or life, clearly). Being honest with myself, however, means facing up to the fact that I haven’t really got the time to pursue a writing career right now, any more than I have to time to work as a bedside nurse. Editors and agents and fans deserve more than 5% of my time commitment, and until I can raise that number a good bit, I won’t be submitting Hunters or anything else. I have kept my feet in the writerly waters, however, and don’t intend to give it up for good anytime soon. Keeping The Write Life here, even if it gets a little dusty from time to time seems to be the right decision.

So, a new blog. Before I go live with it, I’m going to backlog a bit of content, get a feel for the styles of posts I am interested enough to write, and get some feedback from people I know and trust on the tone, the pacing, and the utility of the information. There will probably (but not certainly) be fewer naughty words over there. There might even be multiple authors, if I can get a few of my colleagues on board as contributors or guest bloggers. Chances are very good there will even be occasional “answer an author” posts in the style of Muse Medicine, for those of you who long for a return of the good old days. I’m even considering a marketing strategy, because nothing is less fun than working hard to produce content that is important, meaningful, and powerful, only to have it sit in a void of attention. Tips and tricks for all of those things are more than welcome, as are suggestions for topics, tone, moderation strategies, graphic design, etc.. The more the merrier.