I submitted my first ever paper in early April to Advanced Materials. Writing it is a tedious journey. It took four months. I found it is very helpful to have the first draft ready as early as possible so that you know what is missing in the paper, and then you have a direction in planning experiments. Also, Whitesides’ advice on writing an outline first is an effective approach for organizing the data. Organizing references is challanging as well. The help of Endnote is indispensable through out the process. I hope after this first one, my next paper would be less time-consuming. (Nah, it never is.)