Recently, I was reading an article in Discover magazine by esteemed NASW science writer Carl Zimmer. I was really drawn into the article by the gruesome action packed beginning. It got me thinking. I had an action packed beginning in my chemistry article, but the editor replaced it with a summary. I know the American Chemical Society does a lot of reader tests to get feedback. I'd really love them to test two versions of the article to see which captivates students more--the summarized start or the action packed start. Personally, I think a better place for a summary is in the extensive teacher's guide they produce with each issue.
In New York, I picked up another tidbit of information from a marketing class presented by Mary-Alice Moore of Boyds Mills Press who grew up in here in Connecticut. She mentioned that people spend too much time on blogs, reading and writing posts. I definitely think I do and I've made a conscious effort to cut back on my blogging and focus on writing and research. Instead of posting every other day, I'm cutting back to about twice a week.
It's been three weeks since my return from the workshop and I'm just now starting to feel like I can relax a bit. I still have pages of notes, hours of recordings and piles of books to pore over.
I could have watched the river otters at the Worcester Ecotarium all day long. They were so cute I couldn't stop snapping photographs. Here they look like they are kissing each other. Some day maybe I'll write about river otters and submit some of the better photographs I took.
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