Some people were born to be writers; I wasn’t one of them. What I do have is a great sense of curiosity and adventure. As a kid, I built miles of paths through the woods, always searching for what was just over the next hill. I don’t know how many miles of trails I created or the number of forts I built, but I remember the fun I had imagining new worlds in my mind.

I’d always wanted to write a book based on science. To me, science has no boundaries making it a perfect genre for storytelling. But in fiction, science offers an author a chance to engage his or her imagination and apply it to the real world. This is because science, in its purest form, is indistinguishable from magic. So I asked myself, what if I wrote a book that both entertained my reader and introduced the endless possibilities of science?

This was my goal in writing The Tuar Tums Trilogy; to introduce science in a meaningful way to young readers, especially women. Why women? Because statistics show that women are underrepresented in STEM studies (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). I have two daughters and five granddaughters. Fortunately for me, The Legend of the Tuar Tums was the perfect platform for my mission.