Field Report 1: Notes from the Unemployment Underground || 9 Oct 1998 Field Report 2: Adventures in Self-Assessment || 6 Nov 1998 Field Report 3: Everything You Wanted to Know About Becoming a Science Writer But Were Afraid to Ask || 25 Dec 1998 Field Report 4: How to Succeed in Spying: It Takes a Lot of Trying || 26 Feb 1999 Field Report 5: The Salary Mission || 2 Apr 1999 Field Report 6: The Sp...
INDEX OF ARTICLES WRITTEN BY THE SPY So I decided to be a writer. Just making the decision got my adrenaline flowing -- I was ready to go! Bring on the stories! I managed to get this column started; certainly more writing jobs would be easy to find now that I was fully committed to my new career. And it actually did start out that way. Thanks to some very kind recommendations from my editor at Ne...
INDEX OF ARTICLES WRITTEN BY THE SPY Hey, everybody ... it's tax time! Like I have to remind you. If all the sealed envelopes stamped "Important Tax Information Enclosed" you've been getting in the mail haven't tipped you off, then surely the stacks of TurboTax software piled up at the grocery store check-out lane have. And Spies are, unfortunately, not immune to that seasonal malaise. Particular...
INDEX OF ARTICLES WRITTEN BY THE SPY A couple of weeks ago, I received one of the greatest shocks of my life. After 6 years of battling the Great Oxymoron--the academic job market--and 2 more years trying everything I could to persuade editors around the country that I could write about science, I received the phone call I never thought would come. The editor of a magazine called me and asked me ...
INDEX OF ARTICLES WRITTEN BY THE SPY Last month, I left you hanging. While the nonprofit I consulted for was disintegrating around me (or possibly not), something menacing was looming on the horizon, threatening to upset the fragile balance of my new life. What was it, you ask? It was an unexpected move to a new city. If you are wondering why I chose to move again so soon, you're not alone; I won...
INDEX OF ARTICLES WRITTEN BY THE SPY One of my biggest complaints about research was that it was sedentary. I would spend hour after hour sitting in front of a computer working on my CRT tan, wishing all the while that I could be out in the world, seeing what "real" people do during the day. And after my last column, you might think that very little has changed. Didn't I say that I spent all day ...
INDEX OF ARTICLES WRITTEN BY THE SPY My work is humming along nicely. I am getting regular assignments as an online science journalist, the nonprofit has me on contract to do about 30 hours a week of lesson development, and I'm rewriting a freshman lab manual for a local university. I owe the last assignment to a recent policy change at the university. As the professor who hired me, and who is no...
INDEX OF ARTICLES WRITTEN BY THE SPY Becoming a full-time freelance science writer has had a dramatic effect on my daily life. Instead of spending hours sucking exhaust fumes on a crowded freeway while inching toward an office full of people, I now walk from the kitchen to my study, where I spend my days working alone. I communicate with my editors by e-mail or, occasionally, on the phone. And I ...
INDEX OF ARTICLES WRITTEN BY THE SPY Have you ever fantasized about becoming a telecommuter? Ever ask yourself why you spend hours driving to work when everything you need can be e-mailed, faxed, or downloaded right to your home computer? Wouldn't it be great to work in your robe, at the hours you choose, and never again have to pretend that you aren't reading about Michael Jordan's hangnail on y...
INDEX OF ARTICLES WRITTEN BY THE SPY As a free-lancer, consultant, or whatever you want to call someone who works for cash and no fringe benefits, I spend a lot of my time worrying about where my next paycheck is coming from. Sometimes it feels like my life is a constant cycle that endlessly circles from worrying about where I will find my next assignment to doing the assignment and then back aga...
INDEX OF ARTICLES WRITTEN BY THE SPY Okay, we are seven columns into my career-change odyssey. We have shared the humbling trip to the unemployment office, plumbed the depths of my self, and even visited the accountant together. You know (roughly) how much money I make and (roughly) where I make it. So I figure that it's about time to tell you what I do. And I don't mean "I am a science writer" o...
INDEX OF ARTICLES WRITTEN BY THE SPY I said yes. Yes, you can see a writing sample. Yes, I'm comfortable with computers. Yes, I would love to do some consulting work. Yes, I'd like to write up a laboratory manual. And even more things started to come down the pipe. I said yes, I'll write press releases for the university, yes, I'll cover a few science stories for your online magazine, and yes, I'...
INDEX OF ARTICLES WRITTEN BY THE SPY When I first left academic research, a big part of me was trying to escape the perpetual ego battles. As someone once told me (I forget who), "There is no money in academics, so professors have nothing to work for but their egos. And that makes them fight all the harder to defend them." I carry my share of scars from those battles, and I wasn't eager to add to...
