Category: Uncategorized

Ellen Harasimowicz and I will be celebrating the release of Citizen Scientists with three public book signing events this week, two of which fall on Leap Day. If you’re in the neighborhood, drop in and say “Ribbit!” You might inspire me to do my American toad impersonation …

Wednesday, February 29, 2012, 1:30pm
Harvard Public Library
4 Pond Road
Harvard, MA

Wednesday, February 29, 2012, 6pm-8pm
Beaman Memorial Public Library
8 Newton Street
West Boylston, MA

Saturday, March 3, 2012, 10am-12noon
Tatnuck Bookseller
Route 9 & Lyman Street
Westborough, MA

All three events will feature a short presentation, a reading, and a booksigning. Hope to see you there!

My friend Jeannine Atkins introduced me to a new blog last week, and I am enjoying it so thoroughly I have to spread the word. The Open Notebook is dedicated to the art and craft of science journalism, and every post I’ve seen has inspired me to read further, dig deeper, and wonder more about the work I do. If you write about science, or want to, you should check it out.

The timing of TON’S recent post on taking good notes has been particularly fruitful for me. I’m attempting to find (reinvent?) my working groove after a too-long moving haitus. Reviewing scads of research materials related to my current work-in-progress has surely helped me slide back into my story, but reading at the same time how other science writers take, treat, and organize their research notes has absolutely deepened the experience.

 

I was planning a long post about a great weekend activity, but Melissa Stewart beat me to the flip. Here’s the scoop in a linkshell:

Sunday is International Rock Flipping Day!

Click on that last sentence for a bit of information on the day, its history, and how you can participate. Although I’m prone to flipping rocks any old day of the week, I’m going to make a special effort this Sunday. And I’ll bring my camera.

Have a great weekend, friends …

Back to school.

Deep breath.

Slow cup of tea.

Deep breath.

Back to work.

 

(Good luck to all the children starting school this week, and to all the parents, like me, adjusting to it!)

 

© Benjamin Griffin Burns

How I wish I could find more time to blog! I’ve had some great adventures over the past few weeks, adventures that have taken me from Rhode Island to Massachusetts to California and back home again. I’ve met book-loving science teachers, chatted with science-loving librarians, spent time with writers just starting out, and talked shop with colleagues I admire a great deal. I even had dinner with one of my literary heroes.

(Yes, I managed to control my fan-girl tendencies. Sort of. Mostly.)

I’ve also been working on a book with my kids–not for publication, but for fun. We’ve been organizing years of wildlife images collected on our property, and the result is a pretty amazing record of the creatures that live here with us … all identified and organized by kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species.

(Yep. Geeky. And truly interesting. We’ve seen black bears and hummingbird clearwing moths and a whole lot of critters in between. Right here in our barely-an-acre suburban backyard. And now, if you come over for a visit, we can show them to you.)

And then there is my upcoming book, which is starting to look like an actual book and my goodness I cannot wait to share it with you. And I’m about to begin intensive field research for an even newer project, the subject of which thrills and scares me. And I’ve got this pile of amazing books I’ve read recently and want to sing about on this blog. And … and … and …

Deep. Breath.

I think I’ll start with this: Hello! How’ve you been? Is spring springing where you live? Because the air is warm and the sun is shining here in New England, and I am heading outside with my camera to breathe it all in, and to see if I can find the elusive pileated woodpecker that has been hanging around this winter. How about you? Have you been outside lately? Seen anything wonderful? Do tell.

And check back soon for details on, well, everything else.

inside and out.

Happy Holidays!

Illustration by Catherine Burns

There are a few morals to that last behind the bee book story, especially for readers who may also be nonfiction writers …

In my experience, writing nonfiction almost always requires an up front investment of time and, harder still, money. I don’t know any way around it. But I can tell you this: I have never regretted the investments. Not even once.

The dance—that back-and-forth between myself, the publisher, and the scientists I write about that happens while I am trying to secure a contract and the subject’s cooperation—gets easier over time. For example, it was much easier for me to approach the scientists for THE HIVE DETECTIVES than it had been for my first book, TRACKING TRASH, simply because I could put an actual book in their hands and say, “This is what I’ve done before, and I’d like to do something similar about you and your work.” Also? I’ve gotten more comfortable with the concept of rejection, from both the publisher and from subjects. It happens. It’s not personal. It’s just part of the job.

I’m a firm believer in cutting one’s self a little slack. So I chickened out of a great opportunity in that elevator with Dennis. Whatever. Beating myself up over it wouldn’t help a whit; forgiving myself and coming up with a new plan helped a lot.