If you’re an academic thinking about venturing into public writing, I can’t think of a more concise and perceptive guide than this by ⁦ @irinibus⁩. https://www.chronicle.com/article/What-Academics-Misunderstand/249108

I might add that “public writing” isn’t a monolith. Writing an op ed is absolutely nothing like writing a long read; writing for Reuters is nothing like writing for LRB or similar. If you tried to write something once and didn’t like the experience, it may not be representative.

Yes, some editors asked me to explain the Iron Curtain “like I would to a 4 year old” but others pushed me to think harder and deeper about content as well as style. Having an editor is a rare and precious experience that many academics may only know from writing books.