Los Angeles freelance science writer and editor
My fingers are still tingling. I stretch and bend them several times making sure they aren’t stuck permanently in a clutching position around my underwater housing. Endorphins are coursing through my body. “Mind-blowing,” I am thinking surfacing from my dive in Anemone Fields in the Alor Archipelago, Indonesia. For some of my dive buddies? Yawn.... Continue Reading →
by Janice Nigro It was my fifth airport in 4 days of travel. And I still hadn’t arrived at my destination. “Is this a vacation?” I asked myself. Living in LA, I can't cry that I have poor access to a major airport hub. I was on my way to another diving adventure. This time... Continue Reading →
by Janice Nigro There I was again. In the store. Less than three weeks before a dive trip. Considering the options. “I just want to see what it looks like,” I said. That was the end. The guy behind the counter knew he had me. “Yeah, here you can hold the housing and see how... Continue Reading →
by Janice Nigro I took a last-minute trip to an island in Indonesia I had never been to in September. I don't know how a person can do that, but I did. Cheaper fares if you fly through Hong Kong when it's typhoon season, helped maybe. I even bought a new underwater camera rig before... Continue Reading →
by Janice Nigro Like a lot of beginning business writers, I waver between those moments of feeling like an imposter and feeling professional. The only way to gain confidence is to go out and do the job. “Say yes” people tell me. Saying yes is the easy part. “Saying yes, 50% deposit thank you very... Continue Reading →
by Janice Nigro It's hard work to live in and love LA. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I hear you saying. It’s warm, there is beautiful scenery, and there is opportunity. How hard can it be to love? I am stating the obvious when I say no one likes the traffic or the distances between where you... Continue Reading →
by Janice Nigro A great irony in science is how generic we scientists often write about it. We use clichéd lines. “To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to show X…” Or “However, X still remains unknown.” Or my favorite, “Such and such cancer is the most aggressive tumor type in... Continue Reading →
by Janice Nigro Since my travel story hit the LA Times, I have been wondering why that one worked while so many others did not. And if I could figure out why, then I might be able to make it happen more often. Or tell others how to do it. There are some straightforward procedural... Continue Reading →
by Janice Nigro When I started to write this piece, I thought, I have no idea why travel writing comes so naturally to me. I just thought, it’s like anything, when you want to do it, you actually do it. Still when you do something right, the first thing people want to know, is how... Continue Reading →
A PhD in biology isn't the direct route to becoming a travel writer, but my wish to be paid for a travel story recently came true. Not only was it my first paid travel article, but it was also my first byline in a major media outlet. “How did you get your article into the... Continue Reading →
Janice Nigro 