EDITOR’S NOTE: Anju Kanumalla is whipcrack-smart. This will become rapidly apparent. Anju makes her living in a writing field that I’ll wager most of you don’t, and part of the reason that I invited her to join the Bitter Quill team was her unique and erudite perspective on the whole creative process. Read on for a little bit more on just exactly what the hell it is she does.

The title of this post is also the most common response I get when I tell people what I do for a living. I actually write in several genres, but right now medical writing is the only one for which I get paid. I also do a fair amount of science writing and some academic (mostly scientific) writing. Every once in a while I’ll also try out a piece of fiction or creative nonfiction.

“Medical writing” is a catch-all term for just about any writing related to health or medicine. This includes newspaper articles, patient materials, technical documents, clinical trial study reports, physician or pharmacist education materials, and internal documents for the pharmaceutical industry.

To become a medical writer, you (obviously) need good writing skills and some medical knowledge, but that doesn’t mean that you have to be a doctor. You should, however, be comfortable around scientific and medical concepts. From what I’ve observed, it’s easier to pick up the medical knowledge than to pick up the writing skills.

A science writer, as you’ve probably guessed, writes about science. However, this is writing for the general public. When the audience includes professionals or the writing is more technically detailed, it’s considered scientific writing. Research articles and grant writing are both forms of scientific writing. It’s worth noting, however, that some forms of medical writing can also be considered either science writing or scientific writing.

Like medical writing, science writing also requires both excellent writing skills and knowledge of content. My experience has been that it’s much harder to pick up scientific knowledge and that it needs to be actively studied.

Education and continuing education are very important with all of these fields, however, so it’s a good idea to always be working on your professional development. (Ideally, you should work on it more than I do.)

One last field worth mentioning is technical writing. Some medical and scientific writing also falls under the umbrella of technical writing. All three of these fields, and science writing as well, have several aspects in common. They usually require specialized skills, comfort with science and technology, and dedication. They also have similar concerns, such as readability and the need to translate concepts and technical language. All four can also be intellectually and (to varying degrees) financially rewarding.