I have a writing group. It is awesome. We meet once a month. The day before we meet, we send each other some writing we've been working on. One page limit. We then meet for an hour, and tear apart each piece. It has both improved my writing, and inspired me to write more.
About a week before our June meeting, I was casting about looking for something to write. I had no upcoming abstracts, no manuscripts in process, and no blog posts in the pipeline. Then I got an email from a new student journal that I read about science policy, the Journal of Science Policy & Governance. It was a call for submissions for their upcoming special edition on Healthy Food Policy.
I'm interested in science policy. I think it would look good on my CV to publish in a policy journal. My writing group was in one week, and the submission deadline was the following day.
Challenge accepted.
I spent some time thinking hard about topics, then a week of literature searching and mad writing. Submitted, and to my surprise: accepted.
The editorial team at JSPG is really fantastic. They helped to really polish the piece, and give it better flow. This also helped me realize the importance of writing regularly. Publishing was a bonus, but achieving the goal of actually finishing it was incredibly satisfying.
The article is linked below, and any comments are always appreciated.
http://www.sciencepolicyjournal.org/special-edition-healthy-food-policy.html
