Marking my 250th blog post: Taking some time to reflect on Girlymicro

August 1, 2025August 1, 2025 girlymicro General, Writing blog, blogging, books, life, personal development, purpose, reflection, science blogs, Writing

There’s a lot going on right now, and life is busy for everyone. Despite the challenges, this lack of time can mean that reflection and taking a moment to catch your breath can be even more beneficial. I can’t believe this is the 250th post on this blog and so, if you’ll forgive the indulgence, I’m going to be taking my own advice and spending a little time celebrating this milestone by remembering why I started, what I wanted to achieve, whether that has worked out, and where I would like Girlymicro to go in the future.

Where did it start?

When I chose Girlymicro as my twitter handle back in 2012 I had no idea of the decision I was actually making. I didn’t set out to have a ‘brand’, I never imagined that it would exist outside of a platform that I had newly encountered and was trying to learn how to use. That said Girlymicro was chosen with purpose even back then. I wanted something that allowed me to represent, and consciously go against some of the advice that I had heard during my career. Advice that said that I could be good but I would be better if I tried to fit in and not bring my whole self to the table. To accept that fact that I should be a scientist first and a woman second, and that by putting my femineity and female perspective forward I would isolate myself and limit my ability to succeed. That scientists didn’t look like me. I also wanted to show that I can be Girly in a non-traditional way, I don’t wear lots of makeup, I don’t worry about my appearance, but I enjoy being feminine despite all of those things. I wanted to say I like wearing pinks and purples, and I can also still be good at science. So, Girlymicro was born.

Roll forward to the end of my PhD and I had discovered a love for science communication, and how education can be done differently. It didn’t all need to be lectures, where someone knowledgeable stood at the front of the room and gifted knowledge to those who sat passively within the space. That knowledge could be co-produced instead of given.

This inspired me to start thinking about how I could make a difference in this space. In 2015 I didn’t really know what it was that I wanted, I was still very much thinking about options but I hadn’t pinned anything down. For me, looking back, this shows that sometimes having a passion is the best place to start. You don’t have to have all the detail mapped out, and sometimes knowing what you don’t want to do is almost as important.

When I started to investigate the science blogging space, a lot of the blogs were very technical, highly referenced, and very science forward. These were all brilliant blogs, the trouble was I was pretty sure they weren’t what I wanted to write. This was for a couple of reasons, I’d just finished writing a PhD thesis and a whole bunch of papers. I knew that I could write that kind of work but I was aware that writing that every week would be incredibly time consuming, not necessarily teach me new skills, and not reach the audience I wanted to speak to. I also knew that I wanted to keep the Girlymicro mentality of bringing my whole self and so something that felt one dimensional didn’t tick my boxes for a project that I knew would require a big time investment. I knew that wasn’t right for me, but I had yet to work out what right looked like.

Where have I been?

In 2015 I registered the Girlymicrobiologist domain therefore, whilst not completely sure what it was that I wanted to do. Sometimes I knew you just have to get started. I put out my first, very short blog post, and then frankly kind of chickened out.

Hello world!

It wasn’t until the pandemic that I finally crystalised what it was I wanted to write and who it was I wanted to speak to. By the time my second blog post was launched I’d worked with Nicola Baldwin, as a playwright, on the Nosocomial project. I’d really started to find my feet in terms of knowing who I was as a communicator. I had also spent over 6 months doing various radio and comms linked to the pandemic, and I was getting really frustrated at the fact that all of it boiled down to sound bite communication. I didn’t have a space where I could speak without an intermediary, or where I could explore the complexity of what was happening. That dissatisfaction combined with the fact that I was increasingly aware of the fact that there may be people who were interested in engaging with this kind of content, due to questions across social media and from my friends, meant that I finally got over my fear and put out my first real blog post.

Why Have I Waited 5 Years?

You’ll see that these early blogs are all pretty short. They are definitely Girlymicro blogs, but they fit into the expectations of the time when they will written.

We all know I love a bit of research, and when I started writing regularly I obeyed the rules of the time. That was that blogs should be 500 – 900 words and three pictures. I also really felt the need to demonstrate my credibility, to show that I had the right to be writing. I felt I had to prove to people that I was worthy of their time (not that I don’t now, but it feels different). All of this means that the early blogs feel a bit different to the ones I post today.

Happy Birthday Girlymicrobiologist Blog: One year on what I have learnt about writing a blog?

It took me longer than I would have thought to get to the point where I could finally do what I had set up my Girlymicro twitter handle for back in 2012, and that was bring my whole self, good, bad and sometimes mortifying, to my blogs. To share weakness as well as strength, and on occasion to write blog posts that are about things I’m exploring and don’t have any answers to. It took me quite a while to be brave and find the courage to throw it out there and deal with whatever reception happened.

An Homage to Douglas Adams: Reaching 42 and therefore becoming the answer to life the universe and everything

It also took me a while to share the big moments, and to think that was OK, rather than being considered boastful. I clearly remember the anxiety of posting about receiving a New Years Honour, and even making consultant. Despite that anxiety I have chosen to live by ‘you can’t be what you can’t see’. It’s really important to show that someone as normal as me can achieve, and that those routes are open to everyone. It’s not about being special, or exceptional, it’s about bringing your whole self and continuing to show up, even on the bad days. Therefore being out there and visible is important both to show what can happen and options to get there.

Girlymicro’s 100th Post: What I’ve learnt in my 1st year as a consultant

It took me even longer to think of myself (and I’m not entirely sure I still do) as a writer, rather than someone who writes. I don’t think of myself as a particularly good writer, my knowledge of grammar is super weak. What I’ve learnt though is that, if you write from the heart, if you have something to say that is well intentioned and written to support others, then people forgive you for any lack of skill. You also won’t learn and get better if you don’t practice, so I’m practicing in a safe space with a load of supporters who are prepared to think the best of me.

Am I a Writer Yet? Two years in, over 100 posts and finally finding my feet

Over the last 10 years, whether actively writing or not, I’ve learnt a lot about myself, how I want to communicate, and who I want to communicate and build a community with. It is that learning that has helped me develop and build. The feedback and support has been invaluable, and it’s help me to know that it is OK to learn and evolve as I go. It’s then so important to share that learning so that the next person looking to start a blog can build upon knowledge already gained and make something that works for them.

Celebrating my 200th Post: Learning to love science blogging and the do’s and don’ts I’ve picked up along the way

What has made me continue?

Life gets busy for all of us, and it can be challenging sometimes to get a blog out every week, plus we all know that sometimes I fail to deliver. Frequency is key though, both because I don’t want to let everyone down, and because it is all too easy to fall out of the habit of writing if you start skipping weeks. Those were the reasons for posting regularly at the start anyway. If you read any ‘how to start a blog’ page it will tell you about the importance of regular content updates.

I don’t think that’s the reason why I post regularly now and feel unsettled if I miss posts these days however. I think that I have come to find writing an invaluable way of sorting through my thoughts and processing my responses. I started writing a blog for the benefit of others, but I have discovered how much creating a regular space for reflection, as part of writing, has massive benefits for me and my well being. It’s become a habit that I absolutely don’t want to break, plus I have 350 plus posts in draft so it’ll take me time to get through them.

I also feel that as you build and develop you are able to see the vision more and more clearly, and so what you build naturally changes. I didn’t deliberately set out to post on key topics such as Infection Prevention and Control, Healthcare Science, Leadership, Academia/research and personal growth, but looking back now I can’t see that Girlymicro could have been anything but what it is. It started from a place of authenticity, and so what has developed is something that is uniquely me, and I couldn’t be happier.

What’s my current reality?

Talking about what Girlymicro is now, in the world of AI I thought it would be interesting to see what Gemini (Googles AI) thinks of the Girlymicro blog. So If you hit up Google and ask ‘what is the Girlymicrobiologist blog’ it comes up (as of the 22nd June 2025) with the below:

The Girlymicro blog is a science blog written by a Healthcare Scientist and Infection Prevention and Control Consultant named Professor Elaine Cloutman-Green. It focuses on various topics including leadership, academia, Healthcare Science, infection control, and personal experiences, with a strong emphasis on community and raising awareness within these fields.

Here’s a more detailed breakdown:

Focus Areas:The blog covers a range of topics, including leadership, PhD tips, Healthcare Science, infection control and microbiology, personal experiences, and guest blogs/book reviews.

Purpose:The blog aims to demystify science, make it accessible to everyone, and build a supportive community for those working in or interested in these fields.

Community Engagement:The blog actively encourages interaction with the audience, featuring guest blogs to broaden perspectives and inviting feedback to improve content.

Author’s Perspective:The author, Professor Cloutman-Green, shares her expertise as a scientist and consultant while also offering insights into her personal journey and experiences.

Content Style:The blog features a mix of informative posts, personal reflections, and discussions on current issues related to science and healthcare.

Now I know that AI will scrape a lot of what I wrote and therefore may be seen as just posting positive reinforcement, but I have to say that summary did not make me miserable. I’m pretty happy that it covers a lot of what I hope it would cover. When it is hard to write, it is sometimes nice to reflect and see if whether what you are doing still fits your purpose and the reason you started, so that alignment with my ‘why’ feels pretty good.

What am I proudest of?

Talking about evolution, when I first started I had never considered guest blogs or what they could look like. It took about a year for me to feel like I knew what I was doing enough to put out a call for people who would be willing to write guest blogs. Now, out of the posts published, ~13% are guest blogs, This is so important to me. I’ve always wanted Girlymicro to be a community, a community where we listen to and support each other. Guest blogs are an important component of that as they work to offer others a voice, and to be able to practice within what I hope is a safe and supportive space. Writing guest blogs enables others to feel supported in sharing their views, but also to try out a type of writing that authors may not have done before, and to build confidence. I’m especially happy that many of those who write guest blogs are undergraduates or early post graduates, where developing these skills and potentially raising their profile, might help them in their future.

I know that I asked AI what they thought of the blog, but in order to be a little more thorough I also reached out across social media platforms in order to ask others what they thought. What they liked and found helpful, but also where it could get better. So whilst I’m talking about gratitude, I’m so proud and grateful for the responses received. When everyone is up against it, the fact that people took time to respond and give their thoughts means the world:

What are the lessons I’ve learnt?

One of the thing I’ve discovered when speaking to people about this blog is that people read blogs for all kinds of reasons. Now, I know I said that I don’t write Girlymicro as a hard science blog, but I do always want to include interesting other pieces of reading where I can. Apparently, according to the article below, people read science blogs for a variety of reasons, and you can either try to double down on one of them, or do what I do, and hope to achieve all of the different aspects but at different moments and in different articles. This is probably quite obvious if you spend time thinking about it, but it was not something I had particularly realised. It is however one of the reasons why posting a variety of different types of content seems to work. Every day is a school day.

https://www.fromthelabbench.com/from-the-lab-bench-science-blog/2016/6/24/profiles-of-science-blog-readers-an-infographic

I knew none of those things when I started, and I will always continue to write the things that speak to me in the hope it is helpful to others, rather than trying to hit an algorithm or meet requirements laid out by others. That said, and as food for thought, I thought I would shared some of the lessons I’ve learnt over the last ten years, many of which could be applied to just life in general:

You don’t have to have it all figured out, but you need to have a direction of travel and a purpose
Things will change so don’t cling to where you started, be open to learning and evolution
Just keep showing up, even when you don’t want to, especially when it’s hard
Sometimes knowing what you don’t want to do is helpful and shouldn’t be dismissed
Take the risk, and make the jump. Nothing is perfect, failure will happen, but you will end up better for it
Have a little faith. Have faith in your gut. Have faith that others will be there to catch you and support you when you need it
Try to think about your community and building your networks. Focus on what serves them than what serves you only
Everything takes longer than you think and nothing is ever finished. Starting a project like this is a commitment of years with no end date. Make sure you have the passion to see you through
If you bring your whole self it will always be a success, as it will be truly and uniquely you

What are my hopes and aspirations for the future?

I still aspire to turning the blog into a book, I’m still working on it. I have big dreams and I’m not done yet. Most of my hopes are about continuing to build community though, that’s where my dreams are all seated. What can we do better to learn from each other? How can I do this better in order to help? How can I reach people who might find this useful? People who don’t read blogs in this way or exist on the platforms I use? This blog, like me, is a work in progress, and long may that continue.

The one thing that I am certain of is that I want to continue to be grateful, to see what we are building together and to continue to experience awe that I get to be a part of it. Girlymicro was never meant to be a brand but I’m beyond grateful for the fact that, with the support of all of you, it kind of is, and it’s a platform that I commit to using for the good of all of us. To support, to inform, and hopefully to enable positive change. Thank you so much for being part of this and here’s to the next 250!

All opinions in this blog are my own

A Thank You to All the Cheerleaders: At the end of a tough 2024 my gratitude for all the support

December 30, 2024December 30, 2024 girlymicro General advice, authentic leadership, blog writing, blogging, gratitude, growth mindset, holidays, Leadership, learning, motivation, personal growth, reflection, relationships

2024 was always going to be tough. Wonderful colleagues were facing challenges on all fronts. Close family members were going through significant change. Things that were going to impact not just my ability to balance life and work but also how that life was lived were very obviously coming down the line. I don’t know about you, but as a planner, I sometimes find the anticipation of the bad ‘stuff’ almost worse than its arrival, and 2024 kicked off with plenty of anticipation.

Now the end of 2024 is so close I can almost taste it, and much of the ‘stuff’ has both come and gone, I find myself still standing and grateful for all of you that have supported in enabling this to be the reality.

As a result of this year, I have spent a lot of time thinking about what keeps me going, what I need, and what I’m grateful for. None of the answers to these questions were linked to productivity or achievement. The answers, as it turned out, were all linked to people and relationships. These people, connections, and relationships were the answer to all my questions and remain the foundation of my everything. So, for my last post in 2024, I wanted to put something in writing that says thank you and talks about all the reasons why you are my team and my cheerleaders. You guys are the best!

I don’t need to see you to know that you are there

When times are hard, or adversity strikes, it is easy to end up feeling isolated and alone. It can be tempting to disconnect and enter protective mode, where you share less of who you are in order to limit your exposure. One of the things this year has shown me is how fortunate I am to never really feel that way. I know that whatever the world throws at me I am not alone. I am so lucky to have Mr and Mummy Girlymicro in my life, but it’s not just them. I posted this time last year about the amazing close friendships I have with some of my girls. These people, who I may not have even managed to see in person this year, are still there supporting me, even if I haven’t had a lot of time to connect. I still know that they are there and are backing me. I know if I reached out and I needed them, they would be there in a heartbeat. I’m aware of the privilege of this, and I am thankful for it every day.

We don’t need to always agree

One of the greatest signs of trust in any relationship is feeling safe enough to disagree, whether it be in work, romantic, family or friend based relationships. In travelling uncharted territory, there is no rule book and often no guide for how to make decisions or choices. This uncertainty can therefore inevitably lead to differences of opinion about what is the right approach in any given moment. Being able to disagree and yet still feel supported whilst working through the disagreement, in an attempt to reach consensus or just accept difference, is a real blessing. Even more so if it can happen without triggering preexisting insecurities or feeling exposed to judgement. I am trying to make conscious decisions to value moments where I learn more about myself and others by going through these disagreements, whilst also knowing how fortunate I am to have people in my life who are a safe space for these moments to occur with.

You forgive me for making mistakes

The process of learning and growing is not an easy one, and sometimes we have to face difficulty truths about ourselves and our flaws. I am flawed. I make mistakes, like ALL the time. I’d like to think that I grow each time and try not to make the same mistake twice, but even that is not 100%. One of the benefits of learning from disagreements is that it helps to garner enough understanding from any negative outcome that results to help make better choices in the future. I am grateful to my wonderful colleagues, friends, family and readers of this blog, for not only forgiving me for making those mistakes but also supporting me in sharing my journey in learning from them, not only face to face but also in this blog. My hope is always, that by being open, I support others in making more informed choices as we are all learning together.

You lift me when I am low

This year has had some significant lows. It has has included the deaths of some significant figures in my life, such as Professor Nigel Klein, who had been a key part of my working life for almost 20 years. He was the person who supported me in my first steps in academia, who supported and supervised me during my PhD, and has continued to be a key figure in my clinical academic career ever since. Significant health challenges have been present for colleagues and family and this has hit me hard at times, even if I am not the person unwell. I’ve been feeling pretty mortal, and also powerless to help in any meaningful way. So many of you have been so kind and lifted my spirits, from sending memes or commenting on the blog, to unexpected treats from friends and family that have made me feel seen and loved. Having a safety net of people who are prepared to pick up the slack when I’ve struggled or to remind me that everything will be OK has been an invaluable asset in 2024.

You drive me to be the best version of myself

When the world is overwhelming, when everything feels too much, it can be so tempting to want to throw in the towel and just ride the wave. Having to try (and sometimes fail) to get this blog out every week and to continue to show up has been crucial to just keeping me going whatever my mood. There have been weeks when this blog hasn’t happened. There have been days when I haven’t delivered in the way that I would wish. I have certainly been too tired to step up and see people or do things on the weekends or in my free time. Knowing that there is an expectation of levels of engagement, be it from my PhD students, colleagues, readers of this blog, or family, has kept me going and kept me present. You support me in trying to be the best version of myself and to keep showing up in the best way I can in the moment. You support me in not just accepting but seeking out things that challenge me and keep me on my learning pathway. Hopefully, I then get to feed that back via this blog, and therefore the loop continues.

I know you would always straighten my crown without telling me it was crooked

We’ve all been there, we’ve sent an email or written a slide, and it’s not quite right. There are people who reply to you and give you a heads up so you can issue a no drama correction, and there are people who reply all or stand up at the end of the talk to point out your error. I count myself so fortunate to have so many people who sit in the former rather than the latter bracket in my life. This is a pretty basic example, but I’m hoping you see what I’m trying to say. I have so many people in my corner who will steer me back on course when I’m beginning to drift, or who will gently escort me from a conversation that I’m not in the right head space to have. People who know when I need saving from myself, from reminding me that having that dairy filled cake is not wise, to pointing out that I can’t physically manage to book myself into speaking at three conferences in different cities in a week. I know my well-being is at the centre of their actions, and having that safety net is of incalculable value to me.

We are in this journey together

When I made my first blog post in 2015 I didn’t even know what this blog was going to be. When I started posting regularly in 2020, I knew my why but I didn’t really know my how. Now, looking back on the last 200+ posts I feel like I’m more comfortable with some of the how. My next challenge is the where. I feel very much like I want to continue to grow and that this blog is a medium through which I can do that. I’ve learnt so much from the journey so far, but I am certain there is so much further I want to go. This year the blog broke 20,000 reads for the first time, and that makes me feel like we are in this journey together, wherever it might lead. I love seeing the interactions when I post. I love hearing your thoughts and feedback. I love feeling like this is something we are doing together and that I learn from you as much as you, hopefully, learn from my experiences. I don’t know where this road ends, but I know that I am determined to keep following it.

You understand that performance is not consistent

This post has been really hard to write for some reason. It’s taken me hours of staring at the screen, and I don’t know how well it will be received. Some posts spring to life, almost fully formed, and take no time at all to write. Some just make themselves harder work. I am pretty sure, therefore, that not all of them knock it out of the park. There are certainly ones that speak to some people more than others. Having spent some time thinking about it, I’ve decided that this is OK. As long as my intention is to communicate something, and I never post for the sake of posting, then how it lands is out of my control. The main thing is that I always try to do my best.

The same is true with posting frequency. I will always try to post weekly, but this year has shown me that sometimes I just can’t manage that. I used to obsess and spiral about it, and now I’ve decided that if I am not in the head space to write something worthwhile, I am better waiting until that resolves. I’ve been so grateful with the patience shown to me on this front in 2024 and that you have stuck with both me and this blog through all the random trains of thought and erratic posting frequencies.

You don’t judge me when I bear my soul

I try to always be honest in this blog. I try to share both the good and the bad, in a balanced but honest way. The concept of authentic leadership is important to me, and to fulfill it I think I need to show all sides of myself. I can only do this because I feel that I have built up a trust and feeling of safety in writing this blog over the years.

I remember when I first started to post things that were more personal, I used to brace myself for the comeback. I almost expected my confessions of inadequacy or failures to be weaponised against me. In all the 200+ posts that have been written, I’ve only had a single comment that could be considered to be less than supportive of my sharing, and even this was written (I believe) from a place that the author thought it would be helpful. As a result of this building of trust, I write from a space where I am comfortable sharing my lived experience without revision or overlay. I genuinely believe that this means that the sharing has much more value because of it. So, thank you for supporting me in getting to this place of confidence and comfort and always encouraging me to bring my full self to our interactions.

I hear you when you tell me this is valued

In my darker moments this year, when I was questioning a lot of the things that required focus or time, I reflected on whether writing this blog was something that was valued by anyone but me. Whether it was a good use of several hours of my time every week, when I didn’t have time for a bubble bath or other self care. Then every time I went to a conference I would have lovely conversations with people about the blog, and all of them were so positive, and inspired me so much.

Over the last year, I’ve even had people spontaneously mention it in meetings or 1:1 interactions. It’s hard to communicate how much this means. When I sit on my sofa and need to choose between pulling out the laptop to write or watching some trashy TV to unwind, it is these interactions that keep me reaching for my laptop. When I’m on the tube and I need to choose between closing my eyes and escaping into an audio book or doing some blog writing on my phone. It is the memory of these moments that keep me plugging away. Knowing that others value reading this blog, hearing stories in response to putting my experiences out there, make every minute spent worthwhile. So thank you, thank you for giving this blog meaning, thank you for showing the time invested has value, and thank you for taking time out of your lives to join me in this endeavour that means so much to me.

All opinions in this blog are my own

Celebrating my 200th Post: Learning to love science blogging and the do’s and don’ts I’ve picked up along the way

May 30, 2024May 30, 2024 girlymicro General, Writing blog writing, blogging, engagement, Healthcare Science, public engagement, Science Communication, Writing

Today, girlymicrobiologist.com hits a pretty big mile stone. Todays post is my 200th Girlymicro blog post! So far this year, Girlymicro has had ~8000 reads from more than 6000 users in 178 different countries. Those numbers kind of blow my mind. I know that in the scheme of things, it probably isn’t that many, but to me, it’s huge. Even so, looking at the stats page isn’t the thing that makes me want to continue. The thing that keeps me doing this week on week, despite being pretty exhausted and up to my neck in it clinically, is you.

You guys are everything, and I feel so lucky to feel like I have a real connection with those of you who give your time to read my, oft rambling, words. Every now and again, someone talks about how much they enjoy reading a post or how they have found the blog useful. Those are the comments that fuel me. They give the energy to write this on my super early commute instead of watching Bridgerton (I’m living for Penelope right now) or on my sofa after a long day. So, I wanted to say thank you. Thank you for reading. Thank you for liking and subscribing. Thank you for your kind comments. Thank you for taking the time when you have so much going on in your lives. You fill my heart and keep me going in the dark times.

Now, Girlymicro is all about sharing, and so many of you are being asked to write blogs yourselves, for your Trusts, universities, professional bodies, or even deciding to start writing ones yourselves. Having now written a few, I thought it might be useful to share some of the things I think I’ve learnt in case any of it is helpful to you as you engage in your own communication journey.

Titles matter

When I first started writing this blog the main flow to the site I got was by Twitter, and mostly through followers where they was a relationship as they’d already chosen to connect. Sadly, as most of us know, Twitter is no longer what it once was, although I still post there. Now, the majority of my readership comes through google searches, rather than where I share. This means that using titles that represent the content of the blog posts is increasingly important, as are associated key words. It’s always been the case that you need to use a title that means that someone wants to read more, but that it is not just click bait and represents what is actually discussed. Now, in the world of increasing challenges for social media circulation, titles are even more important than they once were, as they need to come up when someone is searching the entire internet, not just your name.

Try to be consistent

This one is slightly ironic at the moment, as I’m struggling to post at the same time every week because of work load. The truth is though, that being consistent matters. Try to post at a similar time, so that readers know when to look out for your content, especially when there are 1000s of posts on each platform everyday and it’s easy to get missed. It is also worth trying to be consistent with how you write and what you write about. Building a readership is mostly about consistency, setting expectations and then making sure you deliver on them. It is far easier to lose readers than to find them, and so you have to respect the social contract you’ve made.

Don’t get too hung up on the details

One of the reasons I posted once and then didn’t post again for years was that I was so worried about whether I could do something that was ‘good enough’. I though that writing as a scientist meant that I needed to write blogs in the same way I would write journal articles, that I would need write heavily referenced blogs from a completely scientific perspective. What I realised is that I didn’t need to write like someone else, or to meet others expectations. I needed to write like me, and the best blog that I could write. It was never going to be perfect, because I’m not perfect. My blogs are snap shots in time, and if each one is not the ‘best thing ever’ or ‘super impactful’ that’s OK because they represent only a single moment and are no more or less than that.

You’ll develop your own style

I was putting together a new blog page yesterday where my posts are all listed by theme. This meant I had to go back through my posts, and there is definitely a change over time. I think this is OK, in fact it’s probably important. I’ve now written over 200,000 words on this blog, and I’d hope that I would have also grown and changed as a person in the 4 years I’ve been regularly posting. One of the big changes is that over this time I have become comfortable with doing this right here, i.e. blog writing. I have my own way of writing these blogs, of sharing my thoughts and experiences, which I would guess are probably fairly distinctly me. When I started I didn’t really know what that style was or what kind of content I would cover. There is a certain amount of discovering as you go along, no matter how much thought you have put into it ahead of time. I have learnt there is no point in trying to write like you are someone else, or to pretend to be anything other than who I am, and my writing style now supports that. It’s important therefore to give yourself space and permission to just try things out and see how they go in order to develop who you are as a writer.

Seek advice not limits

One of the reasons that the style of these blogs has changed somewhat, is that I used to obey the rules. When I started writing blogs, when you read around, the general rule was that blogs should be 500 – 900 words with three images or sub-headers. You’re reading this, and you may feel I should have stuck with those rules and be about to stop 🙂 The reality is that I no longer limit myself to what I ‘should’ be writing. There are a few reasons for this. The first one is that newer research shows that actually readers want to engage with longer content, to feel like they are reaping a reward for engaging. The other reason is, frankly, I tend to have quite a lot to say, and I’d rather follow a complete chain of thought than split individual posts into multiple blogs, in order to comply with someone else’s thoughts of how it should be done. My advice on this one therefore is – you do you!

Find a platform that works for you

Shock news, I am not super technical. Don’t get me wrong, I can use most windows programmes in a way that isn’t horrible, but I am never going to a) have time, or b) inclination, to learn to code in HTML to set up a blog page. Time is one of my biggest limiting factors, and so any time I have, I want to spend it writing not formatting/coding. One of the reasons I’ve been able to set up this blog is because I found a platform (WordPress) that works for me. It works for my skill level. It works for the way I think, so I find it intuitive. There are lots of different platforms out there, and the same one that works for me may not work for you. It’s hard to move once you’ve started posting, and so it’s worth spending some time doing your research before you get things set up, so that you are ready to go with something that works from the start.

Decide how much of yourself you want to share

I share quite a lot of myself through these blogs. I like to think I’m pretty honest about the good, the bad and the ugly. I also share about things that impact my loved ones, Mr Girlymicro and mummy Girlymicro, but always with their permission and consent. You don’t have to do this to write a blog though. There are plenty of amazing blogs out there that focus on science and science content, without having a focus on the author. How much you share when you write is really up to you. This is also likely to change over time. My early posts have less of me in them, but as we built trust (me and all you lovely readers) I felt like it was acceptable and helpful to share more. It is always worth just double checking with yourself that you are comfortable with the response you might get to that sharing, because not all of it will be positive. Be intentional about your decisions, as once it is out there in the wild on the internet it is no longer under your control.

Know what’s your unique selling point (USP)

One of the reasons I share so much of myself in these blogs is that I wanted to create a space and content that would be honest about what it is like to work as a scientist and to be a scientific leader. For me, that means that you have to share the lows with the highs. I’ve always been pretty isolated at work. No one has been in quite the same job as me. Often I am the only person from my professional background in the room. Mix that up with working as a clinical academic in a very male orientated space, it means that I haven’t always had a lot of people in similar circumstances to reach out to. That said, a lot of the experiences I’ve had have not been unique, and a lot of the lessons I’ve learnt are applicable to others. I very much wanted to create a safe space to explore all of these things in the hope that anyone interacting with this blog will know a little more about what a scientific life is like, and potentially feel less isolated in any challenges they are facing. These are my reasons and this is what I try to ground any content created in, to make sure it always aligns with these values and the associated rationale. No matter why you decide to start creating content, you need to understand your why and how your content will deliver on it, and attempt not to get drawn too far away from your core rationale.

Writing is not enough, you need to share

When I first started out, I thought that writing the content was going to me the main part of the work. The thing is, content without readers is an aspiration unfulfilled. You have to put in, probably, an equal amount of effort in order to share what it is that you’ve produced. You need to build networks that you can then use to share what you write. This takes time, especially because the social media platforms keep changing. It’s a chunk of work. I’ve been fortunate enough a few times to be asked to come and talk about this blog, and that is the ultimately reward. To be able to move from just putting content out there, to being able to directly interact with people about it, there is no better experience and I’m always so grateful for the opportunity. At the start however, it’s all about putting in the work so people at least see what you’ve made.

You will never have enough time

You will never have enough time. This is a basic fact. I’m on annual leave and this is the way I have carved out enough time to sort out some of the things that have been on my blog to do list for forever. I think there are 2 main things that I have learnt to accept as a result of this basic fact. One, I have to be realistic in my expectation setting, which I find challenging. There is no point in saying you will post every day if you are not going to be able to deliver that. Frequency doesn’t matter, numbers of pages or edits don’t matter, as long as they are achievable. Two, I have to find ways to maximise my use of time. I usually try and write blogs on my commute, which could otherwise be dead time. I’m not good at doing one thing at a time, and I have a husband who is usually pretty patient with me, and so I will often write on the sofa whilst watching movies or video games. You have to choose what matters to you, and choose how much you are prepared to allocate to it, and then make it work. It’s as simple as that. This blog matters to me, you matter to me, and therefore I make it work somehow.

Ideas are not the problem

When I started writing this blog I was worried that I wouldn’t have enough ideas, that I would struggle to find things to write about. This is my 200th post and as of today I have 261 posts in some stage of draft. Not all of them will make it to become full blogs, but trust me, ideas are not the problem. I find things inspire me all the time. I will see things that trigger thought processes on social media. I find experiences at work or with my students that make me think they deserve further exploration. All that even before you consider events, such as scientific conferences, where you are surrounded by inspiring science and people, that provide more ideas than you can reliably capture. I discovered early on that I would start new posts even if they just contained a title, in order to jog my memory. I also store memes and pictures, I current have 8GBs, so that I can add them into posts when I have ideas. Some of these will sit around for years, some will be so strong in my mind that they will get written immediately over whatever else I had planned to write that week. Some of the best posts are the ones you didn’t expect to write. So don’t worry about whether there is enough, just make sure you have a method to capture those fleeting thoughts, so that they can become more than that when the time is right.

Reach out to your community

I very much started writing this blog in order to build community and to raise awareness of, and support, the wonderful professional, clinical and scientific communities I am a part of. One of the things I’ve been really lucky with is the number of guest blogs that have been written for me. Everyone gets sick, or needs down time now and again. Guest blogs enable me to still be publishing content when I’m not in a position to produce it myself. It also enables this blog to better represent the community as a whole, so it isn’t just my voice. On occasion, I’ve also been lucky enough to share guest blogs that have been able to raise awareness of great pieces of work or particular issues, which is a special honour. No one works or functions in true isolation and being able to give back is so important. It is also really valuable to hear what readers and the community are interested in. Sometimes, writing blogs can feel like you are just sending things out into the void. Hearing back from the audience you are writing for can really make all the time and effort feel worth it, as well as giving you feedback in order to make it better. So take the time to reach out and ask the questions

Decide what success looks like

Success really does mean different things to different people at different times. When I started writing this blog I really was thrilled if 20 people read something I wrote. Time moves on and success criteria change as things develop. I still try to be kind to myself and mainly aim for growth year on year. In 2023 for instance I had ~14000 reads, this year after 5 months I already have over 8000. That level of growth feels pretty good. I’m also still hoping to turn this blog into a book in the next 12 months, but some of that will depend on clinical work load. The numbers are great, but if I’m honest, it’s the feedback that actually ticks my success boxes. It’s the people who come up to me, or message and comment, to say that they have found what I’ve done helpful. One comment is worth 1000 facts, despite the fact that, as a scientist, I should be numbers driven. You need to know enough about who you are to decide what success looks like for you, and use that as your benchmark to motivate you to carry on.

Know that things change

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that change is a fixture of life. Undertaking any project over a period of months, let alone years, means that things will change whilst it’s ongoing. I am not the same person I was in 2020, the things I want to and am comfortable to write about have also changed. The way I share my blogs has changed and so have my networks. All of these things are OK, in fact they are positively beneficial. It does mean that it important to not cling too tightly to anything, be that numbers, content, or structure. You can only do your best. You will write something one week that will land and have huge readership. You will write something else the next week and you’ll get less than 10 takers. A really good example is a blog I wrote in 2022 on the fact that you can’t please everyone. When it was published in 2022 it had 121 reads. In 2023 it had 27. In 2024, for a reason I don’t understand, it has 534 reads so far. I’m sure there is logic and structure behind some of these things, but I have yet to figure it out. The important thing is learn and improve where you can, but not to become too obsessed where you don’t have the information available to you.

Practice makes perfect

There is no such thing as perfection, all there is in learning. I think it’s probably clear that writing this blog is an exercise in continuous striving to do better, to be better, to serve my community better. I don’t think I will ever be ‘the best’ at anything, but I strive to do my best, and that is all I can do. You will never become a better writer if you don’t write. So my final advice is this, just try it. Do your research. Read blogs and the writing of people and sites that inspire you, but don’t try to become them. Always aim to be you, you are always going to be the best at that. By writing and seeing how people respond you will do it better the next time. By writing and finding what makes you feel good, or was easiest for you, you will develop your own style. By writing down ideas and things you see that spark concepts, then you will build a library that enables you to develop you USP. Just start, one word, one sentence at a time, and before you know it you too will be writing blog number 200!

All opinions in this blog are my own

One Year On: What has making professor actually meant for my day to day

March 4, 2024November 1, 2025 girlymicro Academic Life, Healthcare Science, Leadership, Research/Academia academia, blog, blogging, life, lifestyle, Writing

It’s been just over a year since it was confirmed that I’d been made an Honourary Professor at UCL. It’s such an odd and yet brilliant thing to achieve the thing you never really believed would happen. Also, because I had dreamed but never thought it would be a reality, I don’t think I’d ever thought about what difference, if any, it would actually make. I thought I would, therefore, write this blog post to help all the dreamers, like me, who might benefit from some details about what it feels like after you’ve finally crossed the finish line.

Everything and nothing

I suppose the first thing to say is both that everything has changed, but in many ways nothing has. My job for all intents and purposes is exactly the same as it was, do clinical work and try to embed research along the way.

The biggest change is probably the level of respect you get from some people based on title alone. This happened to me when I made Consultant as well. You still get dismissed, or challenged (which isn’t a bad thing), but it happens less and somehow is generally done in a nicer way. This isn’t universally true of course, but the majority of interactions are smoother. In some ways this fascinates me, as I’m the same person. The social interplay linked to this hierarchy is something I’d love to go into more at some, but as much as it’s nice I’m not sure it’s how we should work.

The other thing has made my heart full on multiple occasions. I’ve had a number of people come up and tell me spontaneously how happy they are for me, which is lovely, but they’ve followed up with ‘you making professor makes me think it’s something that I can aspire for’, which is even better! I’ve had other people say I can’t be a professor because of my age, background, or gender, but not in a bad way, in a way where their eyes were opened as I didn’t fit the image they had in their mind. Frankly, I think this in itself is brilliant, being able to hold this space whilst being who I am and changing expectations is one of the reasons I fought so hard to get here. So thank you, thank you for helping me get here. In case you are fighting your own fight, and in case it helps, whatever happens next, the fight was worth it.

A world of unexpected opportunities

There are a few key ways that change has happened that I thought it would be worth talking about. Most of these are internal, but this first one is not. I do feel like I get offered more opportunities now. Now, I don’t know for definite that this is a consequence of me making professor, but the timing feels coincidental.

Within weeks of it being official, I received my first requests for commissioned articles from journals. I’ve never had these before, and it was so exciting I accepted the first three without realising that this wasn’t a one-off and that they’d all result in a heap of extra work. I’m glad I did. It’s been nice to spread the opportunity by picking awesome co-authors who haven’t had paper writing opportunities previously or where it benefits most, like my PhD students. The ones I’ve done have been brilliant learning and fun, but to be honest, are too much on top of an already full-on job. Writing them on top of this blog has been fairly challenging as I don’t get a lot of time at home as it is.

I also get a lot of invites to attend events and sit on committees, etc. These have always happened, but they happen much more frequently now. The same is also true with paper and grant reviews for organisations. The irony of some of this is that many of these opportunities are probably much more needed for those who are working to get established or still ticking the essential boxes rather than being wasted on me. I’m honoured, and I still get a lot out of them and feel I can contribute, but I’m not sure we should focus so much on defaulting to including the already embedded, maybe we should be opening those doors wider? That said, I’m frequently the only woman or scientist in those rooms, and so maybe these invites are just that? Still, I will try to pay it forward and spread the inclusion if I can by sending others and stepping back.

A certain kind of freedom

Most of the changes, as I said above, have been in how I feel and see myself. There is a freedom in feeling you’ve achieved something that felt out of reach. It validates the dream, and the sheer act of achieving one means that it inspires you to dream more and dream bigger. It also provides a level of freedom in terms of academic thought and process. I feel there is less justifying my research interests, removing some of the early hurdles you have to get over when starting any project.

There is also freedom to have a voice and express your opinions. Now, I’ve never been exactly meek about this. You read this blog after all. Being called a disrupter and boat rocker in the past is one of the reasons I didn’t think making professor would happen. Now I’m on the other side of the line, I feel even more empowered to stand tall as it would have been easier to not give it to me than it is to take it away. I think secretly everyone loves a little bit of disruption to the status quo.

A need to change my automatic yes

One of the things I still need to get better at and embrace more is the art of saying no. Interestingly, becoming a professor has really helped with this. All of the reasons why are touched on in the following sections, but this sits as an aspect within all of them. It’s changed my thinking about saying no as a negative thing, which I need to justify and flagelate myself over. Saying no to things I’ve come to realise can be an incredibly positive choice, both for myself and others. I’m embracing the power of no, and I would encourage you to do the same.

A need to change my mindset

One of the things that I wrote about in the original post when I made professor was about the fact that you have to demonstrate that you have achieved and ticked a fairly large number of boxes, from publications and grant funding to teaching and public engagement. In all honesty, some of these boxes will appeal to each person more than others. Many of them I love, and some of them are just key parts of the job. There are others however that I can now be more selective about.

I’ve always struggled with feeling like I have to cover all bases, as I didn’t have certainty about where I would end up. Career pathways in Healthcare Science were not very obvious when I started, and so you had to maintain and develop all aspects in case that’s where the job or opportunity would be. There is so much joy in knowing where that path has led, but also in having certainty about the fact that I have the power to now make informed choices about my next steps, as I know where I’ve ended up. Nothing in life is guaranteed, but being the master of your own destiny gives you the ability to choose steps that serve your purpose rather than trying to be everything to everyone. It provides freedom from the constant striving to please.

A redefinition of identity

Something that has been a challenge for me over the last few years has been linked to whether I’m still a scientist. This may sound odd, as of course, I still do a lot of scientific activities: writing papers, reviewing grants, sorting protocols etc, but I don’t DO science any more. I’m not in the lab wearing a lab coat processing specimens, I’m also not often there undertaking experiments. It’s taken me a while to come to terms with the fact that all of the activities that don’t take place in a lab are still part of what makes me a scientist. I find this one fascinating, as it took me ages to ‘feel’ like I was a scientist, and I went through a complete panic at the thought of no longer being considered one. The process of redefining my identity to include these new aspects has been been important, but not always straight forward.

A stronger sense of self

Titles shouldn’t change how you feel about yourself, they shouldn’t, your sense of self should not be dependent on labels. The thing is though, those labels sometimes make life easier. I’m still the same person I was before I became a consultant or a professor. I’ve not morphed overnight into someone different. It does however remove some of that constant need I have to prove myself and show to others I’m good enough, whatever that means. When I’m questioned and challenged, which of course does and should happen, it enables me to have slightly less self doubt. I’m not saying that questioning yourself is not a useful reflective tool, everything is good in moderation, but sometimes I can lean too far into that questioning. I feel like having gone through the external review process, by people who have never met me, and been assessed as reaching this level of knowledge and experience does give me a baseline level of confidence that I didn’t have before. This confidence translates itself into an improved sense of self assurance which is really helpful across my professional practice.

An increased sense of responsibility

Now, I’m not old and dead yet, but crossing this milestone has really made me think about what I want next, and what the next phase looks like. Over the last year I’ve come to realise that the crucial thing for me is about opening doors for others. I want others to be able to progress in a more defined way than I did, and to find some of the doors already ajar. They will face different obstacles, but I feel like that is how we move forward. I really feel that increased sense of responsibility to help those who will come after to me, and to pay forward the support that I have had along the way to others. Having ticked my boxes it’s time to help others tick theirs.

A new sense of direction

All of this has given me a sense of direction, one that involves not being afraid to be seen, and of embracing sticking my head above the parapet for the sake of change and for the sake of others. For the first time in my career I have a stable permanent post which means that I can afford to take risks in a way that I couldn’t have really contemplated before. I have privilege, that I recognise, own, and want to harness for the benefit of others.

I want to be in this position and still be me. I want to wave my geek flag, hold my head high as an obstinate head strong girl, and show that you don’t have to fit the mould in order to be successful. It’s one reason that this blog continues to be important to me. I want to show you can have self doubt and still progress. That you can make mistakes and learn from them, and that that’s OK. I want to stand tall and embrace being ‘Too Much’ to show you don’t have to compromise who you are to make things happen. That you can aspire and achieve more than you dreamed possible by being entirely, authentically you. I want to use the platform I’ve been given and hope that you will all join me along the way,

All opinions in this blog are my own

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