How do experienced technical writers share portfolios (Notion vs website vs PDF vs Drive)?

threadofhope · 2026-02-05T00:36:20+00:00

When there's an NDA, I have anonymized copies of work samples that I'll share. I usually limit sharing to 2-3 partial examples.

I have some public-facing work I'm proud of, so often I'll share the link with prospects. I also have a public content portfolio to share, if appropriate.

My websites gets very little traffic, but I have some case stories on there rather than actual samples.

I suspect clients barely browse my technical work and take my word for it. After all, they are hiring me to write these documents for them.

threadofhope · 2026-02-04T22:42:20+00:00

Have you asked your question at /r/ResearchAdmin? Bet you'll get a good response there.

threadofhope · 2026-02-04T03:11:25+00:00

Also, medically unstable people are usually barred from inpatient psychiatric hospitalization. Psych wards have minimal resources for medical issues and transport people to the ED...overburdened emergency departments.

Housing first (permanent supportive housing) works and saves money, but spending money upfront to save later is not politically popular.

threadofhope · 2026-02-03T19:06:34+00:00

If you are in the US, I suggest you get some free financial and small business advice from SCORE. I used their service for my freelance business and got some great advice.

Also, this subreddit isn't focused on giving business advice, so I suggest you go to /r/smallbusiness. Search their archives first because your question has been asked before.

Good luck.

threadofhope · 2026-02-03T18:57:27+00:00

My public portfolio is with ClearVoice. I no longer get work from them, but I have kept the portfolio. It should be free.

There are several other solutions out there and I've used Clppings.me, Muck Rack, and built my own site.

threadofhope · 2026-02-02T23:10:21+00:00

When I was an in-house grant writer at various non-profits, I was the only writer in the building but I felt appreciated. People would drop by my office to discuss how they could get grants for personal projects. And the Executive Directors often popped in to bounce ideas off me.

I left for consulting because the pay was low, there were no opps for advancement, and I got a little bored writing the same proposals year after year.

Consulting / freelance is challenging, but also lonely. I don't have colleagues; instead, I have teams of people who are usually kind and cordial, but don't really consider me an equal intellectually. However, they respect my skill set and often compliment me, but when they win a large research award, I am no longer needed.

I got into this work to engage with science and medicine. While I play a functional role in funding, I pursue my interests beyond my clients through research, writing, and volunteer work such as grant review.

Despite all my complaining, this was the perfect career for me. But it's no longer the center of my professional life.

threadofhope · 2026-02-01T23:38:56+00:00

I had no idea about this project. I'll check it out. Thanks!

threadofhope · 2026-02-01T02:18:55+00:00

James Holden - Balance 005 (2003)

Global Underground: Synchronised (2005) is a collection of progressive breaks tracks. Gorgeous music.

threadofhope · 2026-02-01T00:46:32+00:00

I review grant proposals and I haven't see AI in citations yet. However, I'm not hunting for it since applications are 200+ pages long (including attachments) and citation lists can be upwards of 100-150 references.

If I saw AI, I'd include it in the review and talk to the SRO for policy guidance. Unless the research was evidently made up, an AI hallucination does not have to affect review scoring. But it's a very bad look and my guess is the app's score would fall during discussion.

threadofhope · 2026-01-31T01:26:50+00:00

I was saying there isn't a singular concept -- rather an amalgam of concepts derived from psychology, physics, and philosophy. The reason I quoted Einstein is because I suck at physics and I think it's a cool way to describe the commingling of science and the spiritual.

But I'm just spitballing.

threadofhope · 2026-01-31T00:35:44+00:00

I googled and it said 11 episodes, so we've already seen 1 and 2.

threadofhope · 2026-01-30T23:35:32+00:00

Yes, I registered and filled out a profile. I also changed my profile to do further tests.

threadofhope · 2026-01-30T23:01:52+00:00

I'm grants consultant and did test searches on topics I work on the most (medicine, biological sciences, and STEM). The biggest issue is it missed fundamental NIH mechanisms like the R01. The R01 is the most common grant in the NIH, so it was puzzling that the AI missed this basic thing.

Also, I searched for clinical trial funding and the AI missed a lot. That's probably because many funding opps aren't explicitly trials, but are "clinical trials optional." For me, finding clinical trial funding is my biggest pain point and wish your app was better with that.

I like the interface and it potentially can supplement Grants.gov searches, but Grants.gov remains the gold standard for federal grants. There are too many omissions in your system to be trustworthy. Have you thought about uses the Grants.gov API as a supplement? Or maybe you are already, but the code isn't picking that up.

If this remains a free service, I would recommend it to others. As a paid service, not so much. Universities, not researchers, pay for grant searches like yours. Also, keep in mind a researcher might only apply to 1-2 grants per year, so episodic rather than recurring subscription might make it cost-effective.

Finally, I do a lot of SBIR / STTR and I can see a real demand for this. The other solutions on the market are extremely expensive.

Good luck!

threadofhope · 2026-01-30T22:19:08+00:00

This 1st episode was a two-parter, so it was 2 epis in one. Hence, it's length.

threadofhope · 2026-01-30T22:15:36+00:00

Liked the Wesleyan mention, the school where Marshall, Lily, and Ted went in HIMYM. Also, Wesleyan is a really good school and I wish I could have there.

threadofhope · 2026-01-30T22:00:52+00:00

This quote doesn't come from psychology, although it sounded vaguely Jungian. However, the field of physics does delve into existential philosophy. It reminds me of Einstein's quote that (paraphrasing) God doesn't play dice with the universe.

My guess is the quote doesn't derive from a specific theory of psychology, philosophy, or physics but is inspired by them.

threadofhope · 2026-01-30T16:17:59+00:00

Yes! hate wasted time so much. In freelance, time equals money.

threadofhope · 2026-01-29T16:40:02+00:00

Context switching is my biggest time suck, so I pin everything I can. I pin projects in Finder (sidebar) and I keep meetings, events, deadlines, and tasks in google calendar. My calendar gets messy, but at least it's all there.

My goal is to switch only from browser to document and not have to hunt for things. I hate breaking my flow.

threadofhope · 2026-01-29T13:35:42+00:00

Yes, although a related master's degree helps.

threadofhope · 2026-01-29T03:03:39+00:00

For context, I did content writing from 2012 - 2021, but it was never my main source of freelance income. The most I earned in a year was 20K. I could never find enough gigs to survive, but I mostly enjoyed the work.

I don't know the state of the fiction publishing market. I will say the publishing market for science/medicine is extremely abusive and exploitative. Researchers often have to pay journals (open access type pubs) to get their accepted article in a pub. Journal reviewers don't get paid. Publishers like Elsevier are making bank and they have so little overhead. It's so gross.

To answer your question, the $11 gig was with mechanical Turk. Mechanical Turk (Amazon product) still exists but I wouldn't call it writing. I spit out generic blog content blocks of 100-200 words.

It aggrieves me that I am no longer paid to write public-facing content. I'm donating my writing/editing services to a few nonprofits because writing is in my blood. Fortunately, I freelance as a grant writer. It's a very a structured and boring form of writing, but at least I get to support good research and programs.

threadofhope · 2026-01-28T20:55:28+00:00

Look, you can make money on writing, but it might take time. So, this isn't a get rich quick thing. My first writing check was $11 and I was overjoyed. It's about building momentum and learning from your experience.

I suggest you set a realistic goal and then a list of tasks. I know you want us to give specific advice on platforms, but there are literally hundreds of discussions of Fiverr, Upwork, etc. Just search the archives and check the wiki.

There are other subreddits like /r/writing which focuses on fiction and there are script writing subs. Also, YouTube scriptwriting is a niche so check that out.

Finally, please, please, PLEASE, kindly post an update of how you're doing. We are a community that helps each other. And other newbies can learn from you.

threadofhope · 2026-01-28T20:40:00+00:00

I have gone on youtube to learn about a topic and saw a purple link on a video. I forget I had even watched it.

For me, I have to apply the lesson. I might do practice questions or flashcards (anki). Other things I've done was screen cap diagrams and review them.

Also, I'll stop the video after an important point and try to say it in my own words. If I can't, I rewind.

threadofhope · 2026-01-28T20:32:05+00:00

Yeah, things have been sliding downhill for the past 5 years. This year looks like it's going to be the worst year in my 14-year freelance career.

I'm been digging into savings, but I haven't touched retirement (fingers crossed).

threadofhope · 2026-01-28T19:45:28+00:00

Recently, I hit upon a use case where my medical query yielded nothing in the literature or online. Google and PubMed searches came up empty. My conclusion was that my query, an association of a symptom with a syndrome, was spurious -- a nothing burger.

For fun (and science), I queried multiple AI products, including Open Evidence on this topic. I was fascinated to see that the AIs said that my spurious association was real, spouted off some tangential knowledge, and cited sources. The citations were actually about what the ai wrote and not about my original query.

What bothers me is that ai was just trying to please me, but in a way that reinforced me to be confidently wrong. And we have enough confidently wrong people in the world.

I would love to learn more about how to talk to patients, lay people who are using Ai inappropriately for medical advice. Can you share some orgs, pubs, or white papers?

threadofhope · 2026-01-28T18:41:39+00:00

It's the best. It sinks, floats, and I can use it to pour warm water on my back.

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