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 →
Two published stories from one
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 →
Coloring outside the lines in science writing
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 →
Tips for writing travel stories
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 →
Elements of the travel story buried in an education in science
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 →
An Accidental Artist: Discovering Creativity through Scuba Diving
Do you think of artists as super-powered people? I did until I discovered underwater photography. Discovering my artistic side I tend to think of as a glorious accident, but I wonder, because underwater photography has all the elements that are important to me: travel, sport, art, and science. An Accidental Artist is a collection of... Continue Reading →
The Christmas pasta
by Janice Nigro Families get together over the holidays. Exchanging gifts and watching movies. And eating. And well... eating. Growing up I would say Christmas food for me was a lot about the cookies. My grandmother made the best cookies on the planet. She always had cookies in a cookie box, a rectangular Tupperware number,... Continue Reading →
New Year’s resolutions for the scientist
by Janice Nigro Sometime immediately after the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve, panic sets in. Suddenly, it's the new year, and just like that I am supposed to adopt some new behaviors that will make life better for me. Then I relax for a moment. I am a scientist. Our job is to... Continue Reading →