I began this journey with writing a Middle Grade/Young Adult novel(s) back in 2011, but technically quite a bit earlier, as I once worked on a picture book (both the art and writing), but eventually just printed a few copies for family and shelved the project.

I knew that I enjoyed writing, and not the type of technical writing that I am constantly doing at work, writing that is much more imaginative and creative.   Telling stories.  I am by training a scientist and biology professor. You may think that I would/could be pretty satisfied teaching about some thing that I do truly find interesting and important, and I do.  But it goes back beyond what I actually do and gets at the question “Why?”, why do I do what I do.  And the answer is really that I just followed a path.  I sort of started the path myself but also sort of just meandered down it, as I really didn’t know where else to go.  

Of all my research and etching experiences over the last twenty years, the most memorable and enjoyable have been when I have had to build custom contraptions for an experiment or taught a course where i