Interlude: Refreshing Writing, First Manuscripts, and Causal Language

Spring is here.

I love watching the flowers bloom, hearing the birds in the trees, and feeling that renewed sense of energy and growth in the air.

Around this time each year, I also like to refresh my living space. I do a deep clean, donate things I no longer use, sometimes move furniture and decor around, and open the doors and windows to let fresh air flow in.

As I was doing this recently, I started thinking about how our writing sometimes needs a refresh as well. We can get stuck in old writing habits, forget skills we've learned, or over-rely on writing tools like AI. And now is a great time to tap into the renewed spring energy to refresh our writing.

If you'd like to refresh your writing skills this spring, I just reopened my free 5-day writing challenge. In 5 days, you can challenge your mindset, bust surprising myths about scientific writing, and hone your writing skills in four key ways.

🌱 ​Join the challenge​

Whether you join the challenge or simply choose one small habit to shift, consider this your invitation to give your writing the same care and fresh air you'd give your home this season.

What are you looking forward to refreshing this spring?

Now onto this week's round-up...

Round-up

From My Desk

​3 Problems I’d Fix in My First Research Manuscript
I recently revisited the paper I published in grad school and found myself shaking my head at all the things I would do differently now. In this video, you'll learn three mistakes that I made in that paper and that I see many authors make in their research manuscripts. You'll also learn how to fix them so that your papers are clearer, more persuasive, and easier to read.

Upcoming

Tips and Tricks for Solving Common Grant Proposal Pitfalls​ – April 16, 2026 @ 3 pm PT
In a few weeks, I'll join Kimberly Mankiewicz to discuss common pitfalls we see in grant writing. We'll also share tips, tricks, and actionable strategies for crafting clearer, more persuasive, and more competitive grant proposals. You must be a member of the Board of Editors in the Life Sciences to join.

Reading

​How and when to use causal and associational language​
"Here, we clarify why, if the underlying research question is causal, it is not only preferable to use causal language to articulate the question, but necessary. We also propose clear guidelines for how often misused terms such as 'causal effect,' 'association,' and 'estimated causal effect' should be used in research articles and in reference to which quantities."

​Artificial Intelligence (AI) guidance for authors, peer reviewers, and editors: A content analysis of journal policies​
". . . 62.5% (n = 50) of the journal policies mentioned AI. 96% of these journals did not permit AI to be listed as an author. 54% of journals allowed authors to use AI tools to improve language in their manuscript, whereas using AI to generate images was prohibited by 26% of journals. 64% of journals did not provide any AI-related guidance for peer reviewers/editors."

Listening

​Quick Thinks: How to Create Messages People Remember​
"In this Quick Thinks episode of Think Fast Talk Smart, [Carmen] Simon and host Matt Abrahams explore practical, research-backed ways to make communication more memorable. They discuss why handwriting notes can deepen understanding, how curiosity and tension capture attention, and why communicators should avoid overwhelming audiences with too much information. Instead, Simon encourages speakers to structure ideas so audiences can recognize patterns and return to a clear core message."

Quote

“1. When you write something intended to be read by an important person, go through it and cut every unnecessary word.
2. The reader of anything you publish is an important person.”
–Paul Graham

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: Writing Fingerprints, Managing Emails, and Memorable Communication

I recently watched ​this reel​ in which Simon Sinek talks about a Japanese concept called wabi sabi, or the beauty found in things that are temporary or imperfect. He shares an example of ceramics made by humans versus machines, and how ceramics made by humans are beautiful because they're unique and imperfect.

He labeled this "the value of human error."

This idea made me think about writing. I work hard to have zero mistakes in my writing, and as an editor, that's something people expect. But I'm also human, and mistakes happen. And typos can feel like failures, as though they reflect a lack of care.

But in a world with AI, where machines can produce nearly typo-free text in seconds, maybe those imperfections could remind us that there's a human behind the words.

The value of human error.

So maybe our writing imperfections aren’t faults at all. Maybe they're our fingerprints—signs that a real person is behind the text.

Now onto this week's round-up…

Round-up

From My Desk

​Spend Less Time in Email and More Time Writing​
Do you open your inbox and groan at the number of unread messages? Maybe important emails keep slipping below the fold while you’re trying to get real work done. In this video, you’ll learn 7 strategies I use to manage my inbox and protect my time for writing and other deep, focused work.

Reading

​CONSORT-Children and Adolescents (CONSORT-C) 2026 extension statement: enhancing the reporting and impact of paediatric randomised trials​
"As an extension to the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) 2025 statement, the CONSORT-Children and Adolescents (CONSORT-C) 2026 reporting guideline aims to improve the quality and completeness of reporting of paediatric RCTs that involve participants aged 0-19 years."

​Trends in scientific output on open science and open access (2015–2024): a bibliometric study​
"Over the past decade, scientific output related to open science and open access has increased steadily and has been disseminated through multidisciplinary sources. This trend reflects the ongoing transformation of scientific communication and highlights opportunities for publishers to implement policies that support open knowledge dissemination."

Listening

Say What Sticks: The Neuroscience of Memorable Communication​
“In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, [Carmen] Simon and host Matt Abrahams discuss how to distill your communication for maximum memorability. Whether you're pitching an idea or presenting to a team, Simon’s practical techniques will help you ensure your 10% message is the one your audience takes away."

Quote

"If your words are simple, people can understand them. If people can understand your words, they can repeat them. And if your words can be repeated, your ideas will spread." – Simon Sinek

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: Restitching Writing, Persuasive Pillars, and Preprint Reviews

Earlier this week, I was talking with one of my students about practicing and building confidence in your writing. She shared an incredible analogy for how she thinks about the process (thank you, Tracy!).

She said that she likes to think about practicing the craft of writing like practicing the craft of crocheting. You need to take time to practice and not worry if you make a mistake—because you can always go back, pull out a few stitches, and correct the mistake.

That's exactly what we do in writing. When you notice something isn't working in your draft, you can go back, undo what you wrote, and refine the text to make the piece stronger.

So the next time you sit down to write, I hope you'll remember Tracy's analogy and that you don't have to get it right on the first pass. Just show up, put the stitches in, and trust that you can always undo and revise until you are happy with the result. And with every stitch, you're strengthening not just your prose, but also your confidence in your writing.

Now onto this week's round-up...

Round-up

From My Desk

​The 3 Pillars Behind Persuasive Scientific Writing​
Persuasive writing is not about promotional words like “novel,” “innovative,” and “cutting-edge.” It’s about supporting your writing with three pillars of persuasion. In this video, I share what these pillars are, what you can do to build them in your writing, and what is the foundation that underlies everything you need to consider for persuasive writing.

Reading

Career effects of preprints get mixed reviews from biomedical researchers​
”Nearly half of biomedical scientists worry preprints could spread shoddy research and misinformation. . . [R]esearchers on average do not believe publishing preprints enhances their career advancement. But many acknowledge benefits, such as spreading their findings more quickly than peer-review journals do and helping them find collaborators.”

​Physicians Are Not Providers: The Ethical Significance of Names in Health Care: A Policy Paper From the American College of Physicians​
“The words physician and provider are not interchangeable. Provider undermines the physician’s ethical obligations, clinical integrity, and accountability, as well as trust in the patient–physician relationship. The term should not be used to describe physicians, nor should physicians use it to describe themselves, their team members, or their trainees.”

Tools

​Aligning numbered lists in Word​
Do you ever get annoyed by the default way that Word aligns numbered lists? My colleague Melissa Bogen shared a great mini-tutorial on how to fix this problem.

Quote

“Working smart isn't the opposite of working hard. It's the result of working hard. You have to put in the hours before you can see the shortcuts. You have to learn the details before you can know which ones matter. You have to do the work wrong many times before you discover how to do it right.” –Shane Parrish

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal