September and October 2025 Wrap-up

Hello all of you beautiful people!

Alas, I did miss my September wrap-up, but for good reason. I got lost in the chaos because I got a job!

…It’s tutoring. Again. We did not get the teaching position I was really hoping for. I wasn’t even rejected, I just got ghosted/radio silence from the university I applied to. That’s the case for all jobs in this day in age; you’re lucky if they send you a rejection letter.

I know I shouldn’t be complaining, especially since it’s paying my bills (and hopefully my future book publishing adventures) but it’s definitely a shock to go from PhD work, fighting for that degree, arguing about academic rigor, to suddenly teaching how to solve for x. I am enjoying relearning calculus, but I do genuinely wish I was teaching more college level science.

Still, I’ve gotten a few good laughs in thanks to the job. One of my students accidentally drew an extremely phallic neuron on the whiteboard, and to my horror/humor, I realized that the student genuinely couldn’t see what he was drawing.

If I can get my other job prospects to work out, maybe tutoring will become something to look forward to in the evenings (which is another con of the job).

New Halloween Blog Post!

Due to my new job, I dropped the ball on putting out my September blog post. But I did technically finish my Halloween blog post on October 31st… and then I had problems with the coding for my website, and during the time it took me to figure out the issue, I expanded the post!

The Science of Seeing Dead People

Link to Blog here: http://gettingthesciencewrite.com/Science-of-Seeing-Dead-People/

Remember, if anyone’s interested in more blog post ideas, send them to me via this google form! I know folks have sent me some in the past via text or email, but I have to be honest… those get lost in the sauce of life! This will be much easier to keep track of!

Science Blog Post Ideas

forms.gle/hzoSbDFm1Ghi3htF

I Started My Own Scicomm Freelance Business!

Yep! We’re going for it! If we’re not going to have a full-time job, then might as well take a stab at freelancing while the job market is as it is! I do grant writing/editing, I make 2d animations, science illustrations, and even presentation coaching! My goal is to help labs translate their science to their given audiences in the best way possible.

Have I gotten any clients yet?

Officially? No. But I am in the talks with two scientists who may want me to build them websites!

Future Scicomm Work?

I stumbled upon a science journalism fellowship run by The Open Notebook. If you’re not familiar with The Open Notebook, it’s a huge science journalism program that not only publishes science stories for the generalpublic, but offers paid and free workshops for those who want to delve into science journalism. I had seen this fellowship years ago, but 1) wasn’t able to do it due to being knee-deep in a PhD and 2) never saw them offer it again.

Until last Thursday, when I checked The Open Notebook website to find that they were once again offering a paid fellowship for science journalism!

I had less than 48 hours to throw together an application, and I sent it off (special thanks to John Goodwin for helping me out during the last-minute scramble!). Now we wait until December 19th to hear if I got in or not.

Even if I don’t get the fellowship, I’m still going to take a stab at science journalism and writing news articles, but my resulting work is so much more polished if I’m actually trained.

(And that training can go on my resumé, which is another key bonus for a freelancer).

So everyone, cross your fingers for me!

WAIT! I NEED TO TELL YOU ABOUT MY VIDEOS!

I got a new setup where I can record myself drawing and writing on my desk and ipad. This is a game-changer for some of the video ideas I have.

And I have a public video in the works (not one meant for a laboratory or presentation, unlike my other videos): I’m recording myself walking through a scientific article in a way that should be much more thorough than what you’d have in a journal club, AND it will hopefully be understandable to a general audience. I’m starting this series because many PhD programs across the country are starting to cut back on recruiting, and while I can’t replace a graduate program, I can maybe make article reading more accessible for those who can’t get into those program. Usually in PhD programs, they throw you into article reading in a “sink or swim” style of “teaching.” That may work if you’re surrounded by a community of scientists or other graduate students (though I’d argue it really doesn’t), but if you don’t have that community, many of these articles are unintelligible. And the asinine argument of “just google what you don’t know” is not acceptable; speaking as a long-time tutor, most people learn best if someone can verbalize what the heck is going on.

That, and I think translating scientific articles for the general public is crucial in 2025, and videos are a medium that I personally think is heavily underutilized by the scientific community.

This video is very intensive, though. I’m not only recording myself going through the figures (which is shockingly difficult), but I’m also making mini animations explaining how the major experiments work. Again, animations for experiments already exist online, but I wanted ones that were already in the video covering the article. Easier access.

So TLDR, I’m working on a simplified journal-club series.

Book Chat: Updates?

I finally finished chapter 27, which took me far longer to write than it should have. Some of that was just due to September being chaotic, but it was also due to me writing it… and then completely rewriting it.

I had hoped that all of this free-time was going to let me finish my book by now, but the reality is that the current uncertainty of my job market is causing me enough anxiety that the fast-progress I was expecting isn’t coming as fast. Thank goodness I’m not currently writing my thesis, because that would be a nightmare to write with the current state of the world.

I know we’re lacking context for this, but chapter 28 is where things start happening. It’s not a genre shift (we’re still in comedy), but it’s a chapter where you should be left wondering, “where the heck are we going with this?” :)

Also, I Have Business Cards!

Special thanks to Deirdre Mack for designing my logo!

Time For November!

If anyone asks, I’m still in pumpkin spice season. Why listen to capitalism to dictate when I get to enjoy my favorite flavors? And I can enjoy the chocolate+ mint flavor combo at the same time. Have my cake and eat it too.

Cheers!

-Becca