Perennial agriculture has the potential to revolutionize farming, creating low-maintenance crops that don’t require frequent replanting and use of heavy machinery or cause nutrient depletion in the soil. Read more about Jerry Glover and the Land Institute in Nature or find out firsthand about Land Institute research in “Future Farming: A Return to Roots?” by Jerry Glover, Cindy Cox, and John P. Reganold in Scientific American.

Ideas into Words: Mastering the Craft of Science Writing, by Elise Hancock
ISBN 0801873304
This slim little book doesn’t talk about marketing or selling your writing at all; it talks about crafting a good science story (although the principles are broadly applicable), and does so in a clear, elegant way that makes it a genuinely enjoyable book to read. I reread Ideas into Words periodically to remind myself that science stories are everywhere, and not always obviously science.

A Field Guide for Science Writers, eds. by Deborah Blum, Mary Knudson (1st and 2nd ed.), and Robin Marantz Henig (2nd ed.)
ISBN 0195124944 (1st ed.), 0195174992 (2nd ed.)
This is cheating, because the two editions are actually completely different books, and both are full of excellent essays about writing techniques, finding stories, covering difficult science and environmental topics, marketing, and working on the PR side. Both are invaluable resources for the new science writer. The first edition is out of print, so snap it up if you find a used copy.

Word Painting, by Rebecca McClanahan
ISBN 1582970254
This is the best general book on writing craft that I’ve read. It’s about writing vivid and meaningful description, and is equally useful for the writer of creative nonfiction, fiction, or poetry. A truly inspiring book.

The Renegade Writer, by Linda Formichelli and Diana Burrell
ISBN 1933338008
It’s kind of a cliched book for my top 5, but this is really a very useful introduction to the business of writing and marketing yourself. Not all of the ideas are “renegade,” but the ones I’ve tried so far have generally been helpful, and it’s a nicely organized quick reference book. I also read the Renegade Writer Blog.

Make a Real Living as a Freelance Writer: How to Win Top Writing Assignments, by Jenna Glatzer
ISBN 097220265X
I find this book to be a nice compliment to The Renegade Writer, and I appreciate Glatzer’s specific examples of how she broke into trades and worked her way up to major consumer magazines.

Not on the List, Thanks to the Internet: Writer’s Market
While I liked the essays and articles on writing and selling in the front, I like not having to buy a new copy every couple years and saving the shelf space more. It’s not a comprehensive index of all publications that use freelancers, but it’s a very good starting place.

Here’s what MileHive.com is about:

So Michael [deYoanna] came back to Chad [DiPrince], shared his thoughts, and the two decided to pursue an “experiment in online journalism and forums,” a place where Michael and Chad could ask a few friends along for the ride. From there, the idea progressed to a place for a larger community, opening the floodgates for what initial projections show to be an at least workable model for a diverse, nonpartisan online news-and-views magazine. MileHive is still defining itself.

I think this site has a lot of interesting potential, and I’m excited to be getting involved (and to be able to use the photo of me sitting in a tree–it’s my favorite photo of myself, and a little too artsy for formal use).

1. Don’t be afraid to turn down assignments.
It can be hard to turn down assignments, especially when you’re breaking in, but taking an assignment that you’re too busy for or feel unenthusiastic about (or that’s poorly paid) can lead to more stress than it’s worth. And stress can lead to missed deadlines and other bad things. Turning down an assignment that’s not right for you frees up your time for a better job to come along.

2. If you’re going to write for free to break in, do it for a legitimate nonprofit.
While you don’t necessarily have to write for free to break in, you’ll feel better about donating your time–and editors will respect the clip more–if it’s for a local nonprofit rather than an internet start-up zine. Donating your skills to a nonprofit you’re passionate about also helps you make contacts that can lead to paying jobs.

3. Volunteering is a great way to find story ideas.
A wide variety of people do volunteer work, from children to retired people, with all kinds of backgrounds, hobbies, and experiences. Think profiles, small business stories, human interest, and so on. You can’t always write about the organization you volunteer for because of conflict of interest, but that doesn’t mean you won’t find stories. I also think it’s important to keep your mind flexible by doing things besides writing.

I really enjoyed writing this up–the Kudia River fossils are beautiful and strikingly different from the cold-tolerant plants of today’s eastern Siberia. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find much about Kudia River in the scientific literature. I also think ginkgoes in particular are really interesting–today one species survives as the sole representative of an entire order which was once both more diverse and more widespread. Was it primarily climate change that led to the decline of the ginkgoes or did other factors come into play?

It’s a bonus that the Kudia River fossils were collected by one of my scientific heroes, T.D.A. Cockerell.

Looking at fossils from all over the world is way of traveling for me–both through space and time. One of my most profound experiences while traveling recently was seeing petrified redwood stumps in Iceland. While I knew that redwoods once grew all over the world, imagining the redwood forests of California while surrounded by the mossy volcanic highlands of modern Iceland really brought home to me how much the world has changed.

Photo: Wouter Hagens

Gregory Hubbs, son of the founding editor and publisher Dr. Clay Hubbs (who passed away last year) wrote:

Unfortunately, these days it is almost impossible to make profitable small and independent niche magazines without “angel investors.”

I love print magazines, personally–I pick up free ones compulsively and subscribe to quite a few more. I enjoy the tactile experience of them, and unlike web publications, they’re convenient for the bus, the airplane, the doctor’s waiting room, or flipping through during lunch. But the web is fast and convenient for quickly looking up information (when I wanted to know something about a specific destination, I turned to TransitionsAbroad.com, not an index of the print magazine), and this does seem to be the way of the future.

The editor of the print magazine, Sherry Schwartz, describes the hopes for the future of TransitionsAbroad.com:

Greg and Clay’s wife, Dr. Joanna Hubbs, will continue offering a wealth of travel editorial, commentary, and resources online. The Hubbs are excited about expanding TransitionsAbroad.com and upholding the same editorial integrity that the magazine has maintained. They will be taking TransitionsAbroad.com to a new level by offering a greater breadth of content than ever before. The goal is to encourage and inspire new audiences, as well as to remain a tried and true resource for Transitions Abroad’s loyal readers. The coming expansion of the website on March 1st will offer ever greater flexibility for featuring the voices of Transitions Abroad’s columnists and contributing editors.

I think TransitionsAbroad.com is currently presenting a huge amount of great information in a somewhat overwhelming way, and I hope the new layout will be more approachable. When TransitionsAbroad.com began encouraging submissions for new sections like “Travel to Eat” last year, I thought that was a great direction to expand in, and I hope to see more in that direction.

I believe that Transitions Abroad filled an important niche of practical, down-to-earth travel information aimed at ordinary people with ordinary budgets, interested in seeing and doing things besides resorts and big organized tours. I wish the people at TransitionsAbroad.com the best of luck in continuing to fill that niche with the website. I’m excited to see what they do.

Several new articles since last update, mostly for Student Health 101. My article for Transitions Abroad, “Hiking in South Iceland,” appeared in the January/February 2008 issue along with two of my photographs of Vestmannaeyjar.

I’ve also added a section for my scientific research. It’s summarized briefly but somewhat technically, and probably won’t be relevant to most users of this site.

I still have not found a satisfactorily attractive and simple way to add a photo gallery, but I’m working on it.