Pieces of Anna

Almost a year and a half ago, I wrote about contemplating a career change from research science to writing. At the time, I had no idea what my envisioned new career might be, but I wondered if combining writing and science into one job was a possibility. Just thinking about changing tracks left me scared and unsure. But, as usual, I figured doing a little "research" couldn't hurt. So, I did a lot of reading about science writing . To keep me focused and inspired about the possible career change, I arranged these books front and center in our living room, where they served as a constant reminder of my ambitious yearnings. And it worked, sort of. Over time, I became more and more excited about this seemingly monumental change. But the biggest question remained: where to get started? How do I get my foot in the door, so to speak? I read bios and articles about how various people got into science writing, and the only common theme was that there was no one straightforwar...

A year ago, Fiona (a wonderful blogger) chose a word to focus on throughout 2012, and the word was "brave". She gained so much from that experience that she is doing it again this year (with a new word ). Well, Fiona, you have inspired me to select a word of my own for this year, a word that I will try to remember and come back to time and time again in the coming months. My word for 2013 is confidence . Confidence. From here . It is an all-pervasive concept, really. Confidence is something that I could use when I dress in the morning; when I am offered a challenging project; when I consider huge life decisions, like a career change . It may be a bit of a surprising word for me to choose, since I generally think of myself as a confident individual. But I have my moments of doubt. They creep up on me unexpectedly, and always at the least opportune occasion. You see, I have a bit of a history with this word. Back in high school, I must have been the only (though I h...

Our holiday season this year was filled with family time, yummy food, tons of presents, and happy memories. For Christmas, D's family rented a house in Connecticut, and we spent Christmas eve and day with D's extended family. One of D's aunts lives in CT, and we all got together at her house for the celebrations. It was wonderful to reconnect with everybody. We got into the holiday spirit by playing Secret Santa, which worked out really well for this large crowd of about twenty people. The house itself was amazingly decorated in a very modern, minimalist style. I tried to capture it on camera before the sun went down. The living room. Lots of open space. Note the long table set in the background. Whimsical place setting highlighted the holiday spirit. As a total coincidence, my family also decided to rent a house in Connecticut for New Year's. This is one of the biggest holidays for my family, and we try to spend it together every year. The house my p...