Good things

[liv]

Things that are good about my life just now:

• I have Gmail! Much gratitude is due to 791point43 who is officially the Queen of Cool.
• I have submitted a manuscript to the International Journal of Cancer. This is something I've been working on pretty solidly since April or so, and now it's sent and everything is exciting. Being surrounded by people who are writers or writers-in-training in one way or another, I'm finding it extremely tempting to regard this as a writing sort of achievement. It isn't, really; if this paper gets anywhere it will be because I've done good science rather than because I've written about what I've done with any particular distinction. Anyway it's potentially exciting, but mainly this is great because I no longer have this all-devouring task hanging over me. I've already started on another paper, but I know better what I'm doing this time so it should be less of a struggle.
• In other work news, we're taking preliminary steps towards something that might eventually be a patent application naming me as an inventor. Well, it's only potential yet and may well never happen, so I'm trying to suppress my inclination to get very, very excited about this.
• I've been rereading one of my favourite books, William Horwood's Skallagrigg, and have written a review of it.

Comments

[draconid.livejournal.com]

Woo for Gmail! I've actually signed up to a site that does a "pay it forward" so that someone gives you an invite, and then you give someone else one. Which I think is quite cool.

Good luck with the paper! Damn, I wish I'd been good enough at Astrophysics to get to that stage. And personally, I think it's more of an achievement to get a paper published than normal writing. There's a lot of trashy writing out there getting published - at least you have to be good at what you do for the same to happen! So yes, good luck again. If you do get your name in print I'll have to read the article - even if I don't understand a word of it!

[liv]

Good luck with the paper! Damn, I wish I'd been good enough at Astrophysics to get to that stage.
Thank you! I don't know yet that I'm good enough; that's why this stage is so tense really, I'm waiting to find out if I have enough ability to be a real professional scientist.

I think it's more of an achievement to get a paper published than normal writing.
I think my point was that they're entirely different things. 'Normal' writing is primarily a creative enterprise, whereas scientific writing is primarily descriptive. Those aren't absolutes, and there are overlaps. But I don't think it's meaningful to measure the two activities against eachother.

If you do get your name in print I'll have to read the article - even if I don't understand a word of it!
Thanks, that's really among the kindest things you could say! I am in the middle of writing tens of thousands of words that are only ever going to be read by three people, so the idea that people are going to read something that's a spin-off from that rather vain exercise is really comforting. Especially 'normal' people as opposed to just specialists in my field.

And I really hope that you will understand at least some of my words. Otherwise I'll feel a bit of a failure; I am trying to communicate clearly, not write self-referential jargon.

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

Good luck with the article and the patent!

[liv]

Thank you, badger! *bounce*

[doseybat.livejournal.com]

woow congratulations!!
*bounces*
*hugs*

[liv]

Well, it's not congratulations yet. None of this has actually happened, it's all just potential. But I'm barely suppressing bounces, I must admit.

And now that the panic's over (though probably more, different panic will start soon), I should really get in touch with you properly. *hugs* indeed!