Often, one of the toughest parts of grant writing is getting that first draft of the research proposal down on paper. Last year I wrote a post on “Springing out of the writing block” and the advice there is still pertinent today.

The best tip for getting past the inertia of being overwhelmed is to break down the tasks. This post includes a list of all the tasks for getting a Discovery grant proposal together. Look through the list and identify some tasks that you can accomplish. Small steps, even ones that seem trivial, are still steps toward the goal of a completed application.

Another advantage of taking the time to plan out the steps in your calendar is that you will have fewer “Ack, I still have to do xxx!” moments in the minutes/hours/days before the deadline. Taking care of these tasks earlier in the timeline will help make the grant application process a little easier to fit into your already overloaded schedule. It is worth noting that many of the required tasks take less time when you not stressed and early birds avoid the frustrations of the pre-deadline NSERC online system.

If you don’t already have a draft of your proposal in hand, take a few moments to write out the heading pieces and start outlining your grant proposal. (See this post for the required headings.) Even this small step will make the future ones a little less daunting.

Wired.com recently posted a list of the top 5 annoying clichés overused in science writing. These gems appear in all kinds of science writing, including business plans. The comments section is particularly funny as readers weigh in with their predictions of other offending clichés.

I’m on the fence regarding the use of clichés in business plans. They easily convey the market paradigm shift that a silver bullet product delivers. This is especially pertinent when concisely shedding light on key concepts. By using all of the Rosetta stones available, potential partners and financiers will be engaged in a perfect storm that will advance the business case to the next level and allow the company to deliver their holy grail to market in 5 to 10 years.

Clichés add little concrete value and take up valuable space in a manuscript. However, sparing use of clichés can be useful in select circumstances. Author awareness of any predilection for certain turns of phrase helps ensure rational use in writing.

Want to see more clichés: http://www.westegg.com/cliche/

NSERC posted an analysis of the 2009 Discovery grant competition (including comparisons to the 2008 competition) on their Program News page.

This is the most detailed analysis I have ever seen from NSERC. The change in grant level scatter plots are particularly fascinating.

FYI – I had a bit of trouble getting the file because the release links directly to the pdf. Here is the URL directly to the pdf.

Last month, I attended an Editors’ Association of Canada meeting in Saskatoon for a training session on the ‘Fundamentals of Communicating Numerical Information”.

Melissa Spore, an instructional designer at the University of Saskatchewan and co-author of Presenting Numbers, Tables and Charts (Oxford University Press, 2003), was a delightful presenter and gave me a lot to think about.

The presentation covered the core concepts within her book and generated several “Well, duh, why didn’t I think of that before?” moments for me. Many of the rules proposed by Bigwood and Spore are glaringly obvious when you stop and think about them, but unfortunately it is all too easy to ignore the obvious. Isn’t it funny how frequently we discount KISS (that’s Keep It Simple Silly!) principles especially in our writing?

Looking back at project I have authored and edited over the years, I am ashamed to say that I too have broken some rules. But I’ll do better now, I promise.

If you have a chance, I would highly recommend adding Bigwood and Spore’s book to your reference bookshelf or requesting it for your library! (ISBN 0-19-860722-9) I’ve added some links to more information and places to purchase the book below:

Bigwood and Spore’s website: Plain Figures
Presenting Numbers, Tables and Charts at Amazon.ca

I heard about this interesting web application that prompts a person to write a specific number of words in a discrete amount of time. If you don’t achieve your goal or you stop writing, the program provides ‘tangible consequences’.

If you find it challenging to get words on the page or even start the writing process, it might be useful. I might use it so that blog posts are drafted consistently.

Check it out for yourself: Dr. Wicked’s Write or Die