Danielle Meitiv's Barefoot Blog

I love reading. I love writing. Until now, I’ve been a writer of science non-fiction: editorials, reports, press releases, factsheets. I’ve written on a variety of ocean-related topics for the federal government and various NGOs. Recently, I extended this to writing for this blog. All non-fiction. Hard science. Just the facts.

But all that changed late last year – I decided to write a novel. My husband had been saying for a while that I could and should do so, but I never really took the goal seriously. Then, sometime in December, when it looked like I was going to have some time on my hands between jobs, I decided to go for it.

Well, the extra time never materialized (the two jobs actually overlapped) but the goal hasn’t changed.I’m working on fiction and non-fiction, multiple blogs and hoe to publish some short stories and novels online later this year.  So stay tuned!

Update, February 16, 2010: A Confession or A(nother) Climate Scientist Comes Out of the Closet

In addition to being a science researcher and writer, I like to write science-fiction.  Yes, it’s true, I fancy myself a writer and soon-to-be published author. (No, not THAT soon – I’m still working on the novel). However, I must confess that I was concerned about keeping my two careers separate, worried that I would no longer be taken seriously as a scientist if I wrote fiction. Especially first-person urban fantasy-type science fiction (email me if you have no idea of what that is and care to) with a strong female protagonist and a love interest. I love reading that kind of stuff, but could I write it and still have a successful science career?

Well, I fear no longer. Thanks to Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the IPCC, the rest of us can come out of the closet about our writing desires without fear.  I mean, if the world’s most famous climate scientist can pen a ‘racy’ novel and still expect to be taken seriously, then the rest of us should hold our heads high!  Write our hearts out.  And perhaps, take a few writing classes, because it sounds like Dr. Pachauri could use a bit of help with his Romance Writing 101.  But hey, at least he’s doing it – and the rest of can too.

Update: October 27, 2010: What Have You (I) Done LATELY?

As some of you may know (those of you who have read my “About’ page), I am working on a novel. It is a sci-fi piece that focuses on humans who have become adapted to life in the oceans.  I’ve been working on it for a while. Actually, I put it aside for a while and started doing something else – something ENFPs are wont to do – but my trusted critique partners and dear friends, Louise Fury and Tahra Seplowin, set me straight at a writing conference we all attended last weekend. So now I am back on track with my sci-fi piece, which has the potential to become a trilogy, as soon as I finish AND SELL book one.

Over the next few months I will feature some of the subjects that I am researching for my book.  This topic is one of them  so, you can expect more on the interesting and odd origins of marine mammals. I’ll also toss in a post or two about marine mammal physiology, human dive physiology. (Yes, we exhibit some of the same traits as marine mammals, which has led to at least one odd theory about human AS marine mammals, which I will also write about at some time). More on climate of course, particularly its impacts on the oceans, the biogeography of the South Pacific Ocean, and whatever the heck else comes to mind as fodder for my book.  And perhaps I’ll even include a few updates about my book, if I’m feeling productive and/or brave. November is NaNoWriMo – National Novel Writing in a Month – and I plan to get 50,000 brand spanking new words written on this novel by the 30th. Which is why I am drafting some new BraveBlueWords posts at the end of October, rather than in November…