In one year, Alfred writes and publishes 1 scientific article. In one year, Amanda writes and publishes 12 scientific articles, 7 magazine features, and 1 textbook.

   Alfred struggles for 3 weeks to write an article, and then it’s sent back to him with the notation that it “needs work.” Amanda writes an article in 7 hours, and it’s immediately accepted for publication.

   Alfred has a much higher IQ than Amanda, but who’s going to get the better job? Which of those two fictional writers is going to go farther in science? Who’s going to be the better known and more respected scientist? In today’s fast-paced world, which of those two writers is like a man who enters a horse and buggy in a Formula One Grand Prix?

   So, Young Scientist: writing mastery—huge advantage to you.

   Great news: writing mastery is easy. Really. There are 5 essential skills, each one simple and logical, and when you’ve learned all 5, you have mastered writing. Like bicycling has 3 essential skills: learn peddling, steering, and braking, and then you’ve mastered it. In those terms, Amanda has mastered all three, Alfred only knows peddling.

   More great news: writing mastery has absolutely nothing to do with “talent,” or with being “gifted.” It has nothing to do with intelligence, and nothing to do with age. One of the best writers I ever mentored was 11 years old. This is what masterful writing is all about, and nothing but this: the 5 essential skills. Which anyone can learn. Easily.

   Please understand that a 5,000-page monster book easily could be written on each of the 5—there are vast hosts of things that can be learned. But you’re not interested in becoming a professional writer (I assume), you’re interested in writing mastery for your career in science, so you need just the basics. And so that’s what these Blogs on Writing are all about: only things you yourself actually need to know.

  [Nothing would thrill me more than you emailing me any question about the art and science of writing. I have 10,000 tips for you, and all you have to do is tell me what you’d like to learn. Fiction too! Any type—play, poem, flash fiction (shorter than 750 words), short story (750-7,500 words), novelette (7,500-17,500), novella (17,500-40,000), or novel (40,000 or more words). Seriously, writing itself is the only thing I love more than sharing writing secrets, with those who want them. So just ask! Conversely, you could go into any decent bookstore and spend several hundred pounds or euros or dollars buying how-to writing books to find most of the same writing tips.]

   These are the 5 Essential Skills for any kind of writing (scientific writing, business writing, etc.) and any form (article, feature, book, etc.): 1. PREPARING; 2. WRITING; 3. TYPING; 4. CHECKING; and 5. FINISHING.

   Preparing for your writing task is exactly like getting ready for a trip before you leave. The single clearest difference between a novice writer and a master writer is seen in this step. A novice spends 5 minutes preparing, then plunges into the writing; a master spends 3 hours preparing. Then the novice gets lost, has to backtrack, etc., and ends up spending 22 hours on the article. After carefully preparing, the master picks up his pen, and 35 minutes later he’s done and it’s perfect.

    Writing is—by definition—done by hand. Pen or pencil, on paper. Much more on this later.

   Typing is keyboarding what you wrote. Again, much more later.

   Novice writers often think that they’ll save time by combining writing and typing. But your writing is never judged by time spent. It’s judged by its quality. And here’s the problem: writing is a creative activity, typing is a mechanical activity; so trying to do them simultaneously is like attempting to frame a picture while you’re painting it.

   Note, please, that I’m presenting all this specifically for you, a young scientist. The fact is that a professional writer (“professional” meaning one who makes her living writing) does indeed learn to “gang” skills, because pros work to strict deadlines. When I freelanced (a pro writer who is his own boss), I often did skills 2, 3, 4, and 5 simultaneously. But that’s definitely one of those Do Not Try This At Home things—until you have mastered each of the 5 individually.

   Proofing is checking what you typed. After failure in preparation, this is the most frequent cause of writing problems. The novice only glances at what he wrote, changes this and that, and is done; the master studies what he wrote, and if it’s not what he wants he is perfectly willing to pitch the whole thing and start again.

   Finishing is the simplest of the 5: ensuring that everything about the written work is what’s been assigned, including simple things like font size and margins. In art terms, this final skill is like signing the painting. Not difficult, but important.

   In future Blogs on Writing I’ll focus on each of those 5 essential skills, the nuts and bolts. To end this blog, here are 7 crucial understandings for you if you want to be less like Alfred and more like Amanda.

   1st CRUCIAL UNDERSTANDING: The goal is super writing supersonically. Excellence at high speed. Highest quality, least time.

   2nd CRUCIAL UNDERSTANDING: Super writing supersonically is two completely different imperatives: quality; and time. Each of the 5 essential skills has those two dimensions: how good it is; and how long it takes. But the goal of each is the same, the highest quality in the least time.

   3rd CRUCIAL UNDERSTANDING: Mastering each of the 5 essential skills is largely a matter of using the right tools. Imagine using a hammer for a job that needs a screwdriver, and you see this truth: The ease or difficulty of any writing task depends very largely on simply using the right tools. (I’ll be doing an entire blog on just this one topic—writing tools, especially the mental ones.)

   4th CRUCIAL UNDERSTANDING: Mastering each of the 5 essential skills is also largely a matter of proceeding at the appropriate rate of speed, which involves these are very, very different things: thinking speed; composing speed; typing speed; and proofing speed. (Again, I’ll be doing an entire blog on just this one topic—the optimal speeds for different skills.)

   5th CRUCIAL UNDERSTANDING: Super writing supersonically is enabled by things that sometimes have nothing to do with writing, such as places and sounds. Places. It’s fiendishly difficult for me to write at home, and effortless to write in a coffee shop; and it’s impossible for me to type in a coffee shop but effortless to do it at home; whereas exactly the reverse was true for other writers I’ve known. Suggestion: If you’re having trouble writing, go somewhere else and try it there—a coffee shop, a library, under a tree. The perfect place is the one where you find yourself able to do the skill easily. Sounds. If you’re having trouble writing, it might simply be that you’re surrounded by the wrong sounds. For masterful writing, the trick is to be surrounded by sounds that help you and to avoid sounds that hinder you. Some masters like Classical music while they’re writing; others like rock and roll; others do best in silence, as in the early morning when no one else is awake. Suggestion: If you’re having trouble writing, try a different sound environment.

   6th CRUCIAL UNDERSTANDING: “Super writing supersonically” is always tailored to the individual at a particular moment. What works best for you might not work best for your friend, and what works best for you now might not work best for you ten years from now.

   7th CRUCIAL UNDERSTANDING: Above everything else, mastering each of the 5 essential skills is fun. If you’re not having fun, then either you’ve been misled or you’re doing something wrong. That sounds simplistic, but it’s tremendously important. People don’t master doing things that bum them out.