Whisky & Witches… Adventures of a Medical Writing Viking

There is no more typical way to start the Fringe season than heading down the stairs at the back of a pub to a basement featuring a bar, fairy lights and a microphone. Anyone lucky [or should I say brave?] enough to visit Edinburgh in August will know what I’m talking about.

 The event that day was called “Whisky & Witches”, an immersive experience with live music, five drams of whisky and two incredible storytellers running the show. For those most familiar with witches from popular media [with spooky season around the corner, anyone else about to start a Chilling Adventures of Sabrina marathon?], the fact that many people accused of witchcraft were reported by their neighbours after a quarrel might come as a bit of a shock… Did you know that, in Scotland, nearly 4,000 people were accused of witchcraft between 1563 and 1736 (84% women), with around two-thirds of them being executed?*

The stories of these people, particularly women, was placed at the heart of the songs performed by Christine Kammerer who truly transported us to another world. Meanwhile, we slowly made our way through the five whiskies selected for us. The pub owner’s tasting notes were truly worthy of the best surrealist writers [Albert Camus who?], taking us on fantastically sensory journeys with each dram, oscillating between universally familiar scenes [who hasn’t been blinded by the sun in the middle of a sunflower field?] and plot twists. By the fifth dram, there was little plot left, but I remember laughing all the way through.

So, what does any of this have to do with Med Comms? Storytelling

Just like any other storytellers, we (medical writers) craft narratives [rooted in data and science] about people, and for other people. So, I like to think that these types of events also contribute to me becoming a better writer… or maybe that is just an excuse to spend a lovely evening with my friends!

Now, while we wait for medical writers to branch out to other kinds of storytelling… [is that Ben I hear singing about real-world evidence?] let’s grab a dram of whisky (or coffee)!

Slàinte Mhath!

*If you want to learn more about witch trials in Scotland, check out The Survey of Scottish Witchcraft

Written by Dr Irmine Roshem - Medical Writing Viking

Three MedComms Skills to Stuff in Your Brain: Do These

Ahhhhh, January. The month too cold for Santa; not even the waning light from Rudolph’s formerly exalted nose can penetrate the dank, clandestine evenings. The Easter Bunny won’t touch it with a barge-pole. The Tooth Fairy might be about, but it’s less fun collecting teeth at -5. Or is it? [Disclaimer: question added to avoid insulting the Yeti].

Anyway, let’s get on topic. It’s now nearly February, which means my little #MedComms crusade is well on its way to surviving another winter (bringing the grand total of winters survived to 1. Cause for a McFeast? You betcha, Ronald). And since my last post, I’ve got MORE to share. Yawn. OK, OK, I’ll make it brief.

Without further ado more fuss I’ll eschew, I bring you THREE new tidbits that I’m keen to share with you: collect these runes of MedComms might to empower your pen.

1. Have a play with Google Trends

So, there’s hot gossip right now in the MedComms community. No, not legendary Peter’s little shoutout for our recent MED COMMS FLYTING game…

Thank you, Peter Llewellyn, of www.medcommsnetworking.com.

If you don’t already (I’m sure you do), grab his MedComms Networking newsletter! Screenshot is of his January issue. 100% owned by the man himself.

Want to hurl some medical insults my way? Do it here: Med Comms Flyting

No, nor is it the slightly terrifying-in-a-Skynet-from-Terminator-coming-online-kind-of-way rise of AI tools like ChatGPT. It’s the ever-growing importance of arming yourself with SEO basics in medical writing. Because, let’s face it, if our words aren’t internet search literate, nobody’s gonna bother tracking our work down with a cheeky visit to the recycling bin at the Bodleian Libraries. While, of course, our creations don’t always need to be scanned by Optimus Prime, I think it certainly helps to understand why and how things online are accessed.

I’ve done this recently: try out Google Trends (or Semrush if you don’t mind setting up a free trial). Pop in your search terms of interest, and you’ll get a load of information about how often people search for them – along with (rather usefully) related words, searches, and questions that people use when exploring various topics. Writing a blog piece for a client? Prime it (not Optimus this time) for success by packing it full of common search terms related to your topic, and you’ll transform your project into a sweet victory. Sorry. I’ll roll out.

Give it a go here: Google Trends

2. Unleash your inner artist – you ARE creative!

Too many times have I heard my fellow MedComms brothers and sisters worry that they are not creative – or that they are ‘just’ technically minded. Just yesterday I had a lovely chap, with a ferocious intellect and humble manner, tell me he can’t make nice PowerPoint decks.

Here’s the thing. You ARE creative. Because how do you know you’re not, if you haven’t tried creating something outside of what you do normally? And if you’re a medical writer, then by its very definition, you create because you write. You only need pick up Harry Potter (and put it back down – to pick up Lord of the Rings) to know that words create worlds. Perhaps in MedComms, this life-bringing metaphor can be taken a little more literally, because writers (often) ultimately aim to assist healthcare professionals in caring for patients.

So, give it a try! Pop out of your comfort zone and check out these FREE resources to get your paint flowing on the virtual canvas:

15 Free Infographic Templates

Free Design Tool

Free Photo Editor (A Bit Like Photoshop!)

Blender – 3D Modelling Program

Krita – Free Art Program

3. Go down a rabbit hole of obscure scientific literature – like (probably) in your uni days

One of my most recent projects involved complex viral infection mechanisms and structural information on mysterious pathways untouched by the modern world. Well, not quite, but some of these papers were quite old.

It got me thinking. Isn’t ‘older’ scientific literature so much more beautiful? I’d take the musings of the gentleman and gentlewoman ecologist over ultra-processed AI bytes (that have a morbid fear of word counts) any day. Just have a read of some old (and it’s not even that old) Dawkins.

It’s a useful exercise for us writers, because it reminds us that the art of crafting sentences is just that: it’s art. Or, it can be. Weave your narratives with pride, because no other person on Earth could weave them exactly the way you do. I can’t speak for writers from Jupiter, though. They probably could.

Ah, I can’t do it. I’ve lied to you, and I’ll come clean. I didn’t go down rabbit holes of literature in my uni days. I was too busy playing the guitar.

On the subject of 6-stringed distractions, check this out. Lovely.

OK, that’s it, for now.

Thanks for reading! Catch you soon (no, really – who’s that behind you?)…

Two months in…

Phew, I made it!

Made what, exactly? Why, two months of RUNIC COMMUNICATIONS existing in this timeline*, of course! It’s plain sailing from here, right? [Narrator: ‘No.’]

In this time, I’ve been lucky enough to have worked across a number of therapy areas – including (I’m excited to say) a brand-new area of medical science relating to an under-explored yet common viral disease, spurred on in part by the boon in interest in RNA vaccine technologies: a silver lining to a grim couple of years at the hands of COVID-19.

Plus, I may as well be Jeff Goldblum in Independence Day, now – ‘cos I could totally hack an alien mothership with my 10-year-old HP laptop. This is thanks to my recent work using SEO tools to aid landscape analysis, which I’m sure is just a step away from supporting 007 in locating a rogue agent hiding off the coast of Macau. On an unrelated note, has anyone got any work going which’ll require me to carry a Walther PPK?

I’ve chatted to loads of LOVELY clients, and I’m so thankful to be in this industry. It’s full of awesome peeps – who I will go ahead and call my Med Comms shield brothers and sisters. That’s ‘cos I reckon we share the same thoughts on what we’re trying to achieve: communications worthy of legend. Because who wants communications worthy of discarded leaflets? Nobody. We need messages that transcend the reams of text that threaten to bore everyone to death well before they can utilise the information within; to me, that’s why legends capture the goal perfectly. They are stories that have transcended even time.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned, even at this early stage, it’s to believe in yourself. Your ferocious creativity and scientific know-how is all you need to arm yourself with. Worry not about what you’ll face once you step off that longship… fight to make your clients’ messages be remembered. Who knows, you might find your projects immortalised in the halls of the all-father (i.e. remembered forever in the minds of your target audiences).

Anyway, enough of that. That’s me out.

If you’re working in and around Med Comms and fancy a chat, send me a call, text, e-mail or homing pigeon (or even if you’re not even remotely in the industry, let’s just chat anyway). Let’s become clan mates!

Skål!

*I’m unsure whether the company has existed within other parallel universes in a multiverse, since this knowledge is currently lacking in modern physics. So, I’ll err on the side of caution in the interest of scientific accuracy.

The pen is mightier than the axe

Well. Here goes nothin’.

I sailed the seas of senior level medical writing for years, and – compelled by the stars overhead – followed my dreams to stranger shores.

Now, I’ve launched RUNIC COMMUNICATIONS – and I’ve got big plans. This is the birth of a new breed of medical writer: today we stand together, a fearless writing clan that will fight to bring glory and honour to your project, whatever the ask. I’d offer my axe, but we both know that the pen is mightier, for words craft nations and carve destinies – while a blade cleaves only matter. And just like the scalpel to medicine, in Med Comms, it is finely crafted words that can mean the difference between life-changing knowledge and more noise, drowned in a sea of mundane text.

See, I believe that your messaging isn’t just deserving of ‘good’ copy – or even ‘great’ copy. It deserves to be transformed into LEGEND, the likes of which could be transcribed in mystic runes within the Earth itself, so that healthcare professionals, patients, the public, or your other target audiences truly feel its weight.

Med Comms, or ᛘᛖᛞ ᚳᚩᛘᛘᛋ in runes, is my passion. So, join the clan, and let’s sing of our victories together over mead (or coffee).

With this, I warmly welcome you, my shield-siblings, to THE LONGHOUSE. This is a place of rest where you’ll find us posting Med Comms content, fun stuff, guitar tutorials, recipes, blog posts, jokes, tips – and who knows what else. Whether you now block this site permanently or add it to your favourites is up to you, but be warned:

‘Do it or do not do it – you will regret both’ 
-Sören Kierkegaard, 1843