About a week ago, I experienced arguably one the most important breakthroughs in my college career so far - I had a piece published on Northeastern's iNSolution blog, run by none other than Angela Herring. The article featured my friend Dan Humphrey and his work in the James Monaghan research lab, where the researchers explore the regenerative abilities of axolotl salamanders. I'd been working on the article since mid-March - well, actually, I'd been thinking about it since I interviewed Angela in February and asked if I could write for her - but in March, I went to interview Dan at the lab and began work on a first draft.
After I sent in my draft, I stopped worrying about the article for a while and instead focused on my classes, which were drawing to a close. Later, Angela sent the article back to me with some edits, but I barely was able to give them a once-over before it was time to take my final exams and head home for the summer. I sent in my revised draft in mid-May without high expectations - since the summer semester at Northeastern had already started, I figured my piece wouldn't be relevant anymore, but I hoped to at least get some feedback.
For that reason, I was surprised and delighted when Angela wrote back a couple of weeks later saying she was ready to post the new version of the article later that day. By the time I got home from working at my waitressing job, she'd put the piece up on iNSolution, complete with a very flattering bio and a link to this blog. I was extremely excited and proud of my accomplishment, as were all of the family and friends I relayed the news to.
Having my work published on iNSolution makes me feel like I'm on my way to becoming a legitimate science writer, which, coincidentally, is how I referred to Angela back in February. However, it also makes me realize that I have a lot more work to do before I can really become "legit." For one thing, I've yet to establish a routine where I post on this blog regularly, nor do I have a strong online presence on other outlets. In addition to having my article mentioned in the daily "News at Northeastern" email, the iNSolution blog post was also mentioned on Twitter. Anyone who clicked on the link to my Twitter account would have seen that I only use it to follow celebrities and other interesting people, when I could be using it to self-promote.
So I think that's my next step: move forward with my blog and my online profile, and in general learn more about what it means to be a "legit" science journalist. Angela has invited me to cover student research more often starting in the fall, another development I'm very excited about. By that time, I hope to have built my online presence enough so that if and when I get mentioned again - whether it's on the research blog, in the daily university email, or on Twitter - I'll be ready.
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