In 2009, and for several years after I started offering my services as scientific and technical translator and author’s editor, my annual review reflected a pretty even split between translation and editing. Over the last 15 years, I have trained and listened to feedback from my clients. As a result, I have adapted my services to meet their needs, including with things that they didn’t know they needed! My activity is now much more diversified activity.

November is the month for writing for some reason. It could be that the nights are drawing in so we spend more time indoors, and writing is definitely a good indoor activity. Alternatively, it might be that the end of the year is approaching, maybe people start taking a look back at resolutions made in January, or September, and realising that action is needed for those plans to be fulfilled. Whatever the case, it’s a great opportunity to look at changing your relationship with writing, and starting to integrate it more regularly into your day-to-day work.

I read an article in 2020 about the fact that women scientists were publishing less than their male colleagues during the exceptional time that we were living through (1). I didn’t find this information surprising, indeed I remember complaining to a friend at the start of the first lockdown that there was gender bias in which parent would be the first port of call for problems with schoolwork or just dealing with boredom.