We blog from Toothy’s Wordshop – mainly about writing, science, remote working, business, culture, parenting, tech and gaming. Sometimes superheroes too. Stick around for tips, tricks, hacks and perspectives.
‘Like the photon is for electromagnetism, or the Higgs boson for gravity, so too are words the force carriers for thought. – Nobody, or, at least, nobody until just now OK, folks: this one’s interactive. You’ll need to grab a pen and paper (or your Word document), ‘cos it’s time to get serious. But not […]
Who’d a thunk it? The end of the world (for writers) won’t look like your run-of-the-mill apocalypse; there’ll be no catastrophic environmental disaster, nor will there be issues with food shortages, pandemics, the threat of war… oh. Hold up. Let’s start again, in a manner suitable for a 2022 audience. Who’d a thunk it? Although […]
Country music is about the plight of the everyday individual, laying out heartbreak, relationships, friendships, work and other aspects of life as a story – an adventure – for the listener to experience. It’s simply ‘Three Chords and the Truth’, as the late songwriting legend, Harlan Howard, once described.1 Ultimately, this philosophy is at the […]
PART 1 In this series, we’re going to ponder the works of famous writers from throughout history. Inexplicably transported through time to the present day (and hired as medical writers), how would these legendary figures approach Med Comms? What could we learn from them? After all, we are writers at heart – and there’s no […]
A senior medical writer’s perspective on what can be taken away from 5 world-famous guitarists and their playing styles – and applied to med comms. The composition is king Mastered by: Mark Knopfler Mark Knopfler is often cited as one of the best guitarists of all time – and for good reason. As Dire Straits’ […]
Forget vampires; they’re just a result of a poor understanding of death and decay – and fertile minds. Forget werewolves, too – we’ve got a suite of explanations for stories of these hairy hairbrush-needing beasts, ranging from genetic disorders, psychiatric syndromes and rabies, to serial killers (OK, I guess werewolves sound quite interesting after all). […]
You might see ageing described as a universal, inescapable process to which all living things are inevitably bound. Indeed, king of evolutionary biology, William Hamilton – best known for kin selection – argued that all organisms must age (even theoretical organisms, like aliens). This was based on the idea that selection pressures are weaker for […]
The Sky at Night presenter, Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock Margaret Ebunoluwa Aderin-Pocock MBE is a physicist, space scientist, telescope engineer, and presenter of the BBC’s ‘The Sky at Night’ (note – I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing Dr Aderin-Pocock, which you can check out here). Alongside her work in science communication, Dr Aderin-Pocock helped design the […]
Well, sort of – the oldest known pieces of written marketing are thought to be 5000-year-old ‘WANTED’ flyers from Thebes.1,2 Ancient Babylonians, too, were apparently into their ads, selling their products with the aid of fancy clay tablets that presumably smelled a bit funny.1 But leave it to the Romans to take it to the […]
Micromanagement is like the Miley Cyrus of the business world. Sure, it can be a force for good – but, if care is not taken, you might find it crashing through your office wall atop a wrecking ball. Indeed, micromanagement can be beneficial in certain short-term situations, such as in the training of new employees, […]
Breaking News! In Slim Toothy’s first on-tour interview, he was asked about the inspiration behind his new single. “The vibe just felt right in that moment, you know. We’d been cracking out slides all day, we’d hit go on a giant PromoMats upload and we’d won two new clients. Our mood was banging and the […]