By Marit Bonne
When I was little, my mom used to read Nijntje (Miffy) books to me. My favourite was the story about the dog Snuffie that put out a dangerous fire. But there is another book that stood out to me: the one where Nijntje talks about what she wants to become when she grows up. Her reasoning: she likes to read, so she will become a writer.
Her reasoning never sat quite right with me. After all, I loved to read, but a writer? I wasn’t sure. It was not until my university career – a long time since my Nijntje books – that I decided that writing might be something I’d enjoy. My first step? Join a group of like-minded people that I could learn from.
It started with the editorial committee of GLV Idun, the study association for biology, called the Lifeline. Here, I wrote at least four popular scientific articles a year, if not more. Since then, I have been writing for the Ukrant.
I started writing next to university courses because I think writing is like biking: the more you do it, the better you become. And the best thing? You never lose the skills you gain completely. Secondly, I am a huge nerd. Writing for different outlets allowed me to talk to very interesting researchers and share their story to a broader audience. Lastly, writing really was a creative outlet for me – and still is.
But just like biking, I couldn’t cycle in one day. Let alone by myself. Luckily, I also got some help with improving my writing skills. In the master’s, for instance, mainly in the course science journalism. Before that course, I was lost on structure, made paragraphs too long, and my interview skills were not the best.
Specifically, I would spend more than a day on one article draft back then, when now, thanks to some tips from Lemke and Ronald, I can write a decent article within a few hours if I really have to.
Working for Ukrant also really improved my writing and interview skills. For instance, I would often be repetitive and state the reason why readers need to read this article too late in the article. It also helped me to put on my ‘journalism glasses’ and note down every little thing that could be interesting for an article.
What started out as a fun hobby during my bachelor’s to be creative is now becoming a serious option for my future career. Maybe Nijntje was right after all.
If you are interested, you can check out some of Marit’s Ukrant articles here.
Bridging Science 