Writing--just do it

Every year, usually in February, I am taken aside and reminded by the BCMJ staff that I have to write an annual report. This is something I actually enjoy doing because it gives me an opportunity to praise, in print, a group of people who do an amazing job for our publication.

There are quite a few deserving of tribute and I do my best to be inclusive, but my effusive tendencies are kept in rein by print space limitations. So, on looking back at the past few annual reports, particularly my most recent one, I found myself bothered by what appears to be a tendency to “damn with faint praise” a couple of vitally important groups.

One group that I have thought about a lot but that still seems to get my most pedestrian focus is BCMJ authors. This group’s efforts are generally applauded with a one-liner bracketed by some gracious, minimalist praise, but these talented and committed peer educators deserve more than that.

Authors are critical to any publication’s success. The decision-making process around where to submit an article is multifaceted; however, suffice it to say that there are many possible publication venues for authors, and happily we have always been a preferred destination for many of BC’s best medical authors. Over the 20-odd years that I have been associated with the BCMJ, I have always been impressed with the volume of consistently high-quality medical writing that shows up on my desk. Certainly there are exceptions, and even with skilled copy editing some pieces are not publishable, but that is not common. For example, in the last 2 years the BCMJ Editorial Board rejected only 24% of submitted articles on the grounds of content, style, or intelligibility.

BC seems to have a large reservoir of skilled, energetic, resourceful, and committed authors—a resource that continues to ensure the high quality of our award-winning publication and which makes our lives as editors a delight. What’s more, this group represents the whole province. The BCMJ has always encouraged authorship from around BC, and we have very active authors from small urban centres and isolated rural areas in addition to the large group of authors centred in the Lower Mainland and Victoria.

However, even with this large reservoir of active authors, every now and then the volume of unsolicited submissions to the BCMJ slows a bit (as it has in the past few months), which often seems to be a reflection of tougher economic times or, in this instance, a shift in global focus (e.g., the situation in Iraq). If past trends are to be believed, however, I think that BC’s seasoned and first-time authors will use this time to re-energize their creative centre and get back to the important task of writing for their colleague’s educational benefit.

If anyone out there has been thinking about writing an article about what he or she does, what’s new, what’s different, what’s in the cards for the future, medical politics, or whatever, then sit down and start writing. It really is an amazing process; once you start, what you create is often surprising, gratifying, and sometimes edifying for both reader and writer. As the Nike marketers say, “Just do it.”

Anyone wishing our Information for Authors package can download it from our web site under “BCMJ/Guidelines and Resources” www.bcma.org/public/bc_medical_journal/guidelines_resources/overview.htm or call (604) 638-2815 to receive a copy by mail or fax.

—JAW