Over this past weekend, I made conchas (or pan dulce) for the first time. I love to bake and wanted to try making something new. If you haven’t had conchas before, they’re basically a sweet bread covered with a crisp sugar topping.
To make the toppings, you need to roll out a sugary ball for each concha. As I was hand-pressing the toppings, like the recipe instructed, I started to question the process. I was surprised by this because when I bake, I follow recipes like you would a protocol: to a T. But hand-pressing felt tedious and time-consuming, and it led to toppings that were uneven and oddly shaped. So I wanted to find a better way.
My first thought was to use a biscuit cutter to get a rounder shape, but that didn’t solve the uneven problem. Then I thought to use a rolling pin, which would solve the uneven problem but still require the biscuit cutter. So that didn’t feel like a better option to me.
Then I remembered that I have a tortilla press. Within a few minutes, I quickly pressed each topping evenly and in the round shape I was looking for.
I was delighted that the press worked (and, admittedly, a little disappointed when I later discovered that my idea was not original). But what I appreciated the most was the reminder that when something feels off, we need to be willing to question the process we are following.
The same concept applies to writing. Many authors use processes they are instructed to use, such as adding references manually rather than using a reference manager, writing a document from scratch rather than using a template, or reviewing drafts with co-authors in parallel rather than in series. These processes might also be habits, “how things are done,” or just seem like too much time and effort in the moment to change.
But the extra time and effort you spend exploring a change in the process can add up to a lot more time and effort saved later.
So the next time you notice something in your writing process that feels tedious and time-consuming, or that just isn’t supporting the writing product you want to create, give yourself a little time to explore how you might change it. You might discover a change that will make the process smoother and the product better.
Now onto this week's round-up...
Round-up
Reading
Three-quarters of researchers unsure what use of AI to disclose
”Nearly three-quarters of researchers are unclear about what uses of artificial intelligence should be disclosed in scholarly work, while almost half admit to under-disclosure. . . [Oxford University Press p]olicies include that authors of research papers need not disclose use of AI for spelling or grammar correction, or to format references, while use for substantial editing and data manipulation must be disclosed. . . [Springer Nature] guidance considers how it has been used, potential impacts, the level of risk introduced and the presence of human oversight.”
Is AI Flooding Medical Journals With 'Meaningless' Research?
This article was interesting, but the last few lines took me by surprise. I had not considered the angle of how the publish-or-perish culture could be disincentivized to help address the flooding of manuscript submissions. ”As long as the ‘publish-or-perish’ incentive lives on in academic medicine, journals are likely to continue to be bombarded with mediocre AI-created work, experts said. ‘If medical schools and universities don't want the literature to be overwhelmed with garbage,’ Oransky said, ‘then they should probably stop giving every applicant ... an incentive to publish a lot of c***.’"
Watching
I Still Struggle Every Time I Sit Down to Write – Michael Pollan
”Nobody thinks they're very good at it while they’re doing it. And writing, even after having been doing it professionally for like…40 years, it’s still really hard. And every time you start, every time you face that white screen is [the thought] ‘Why doesn’t this come more easily?” There’s a tendency to think if it’s hard, it’s not for me, or I’m not good at it, or I’m not the right person. But it’s hard for everybody to one degree or another. And I still struggle every time I sit down to write.”
Quote
“The Golden Rule of AI: Don’t use AI to save yourself time by wasting someone else’s.” – Shane Parrish
Thank you so much for reading.
Warmly,
Crystal
