OK, I admit it, I probably went into the wrong field of study when I went to college. At the time, I had just seen "Wall Street" (1987 movie) and pictured myself as a female version of Bud Fox or Gordon Gekko. HA. One internship in a brokerage firm in Boston cured me of that, but it was too late, I was on the path to a degree in Finance, studying corporate mergers and stock options. After spending years in the financial services industry, I moved on to a career in corporate law (not a lawyer though!), then finally "converted" to the world of computer science, where I remain to this day. Computer science has given me the chance to take part in creating the "Internet of Things", visualizing "Big Data" (a phrase I detest, but that's a story for another blog), work with advanced analytics algorithm software, and assist manufacturers in becoming more and more automated. Interesting stuff.
But...the science geek part of me has never left and I can't stop reading about new technologies and scientific breakthroughs as they come out.
If you are following me on Twitter, you are probably wondering why I'm tweeting about SmartDust and Nanodiamonds and Bionic Plants - how does that related to a publishing venture from an aspiring author? Shouldn't I be writing about sentence structure and book marketing?
Many of the ideas in my science-heavy tweets will make their way into my novel, and some I'm "saving" for future novel ideas I already have in my head. I want my stories to be realistic enough that a scientist in a relevant field would at least say "ok, this author did some research" and not shake their head in dismay at the sheer impossibility of it. That said, I'd like to know enough that I can take emerging technology and scientific discoveries and enhance them, take them maybe a few steps further or in a new direction, all while advancing the plot in my near-future world.
My dream (of course!), is to invent something as part of my story-telling that some scientist somewhere takes notice of, and turns it into reality! The science fiction novelists I admire most have "invented" science or technology in their writing as fiction that today is real - I believe they influenced the future in a profound way with their writing! That would be the ultimate accomplishment in my book, not books sales or tours - having a real influence on the world.
Some cool links related to this idea:
Straight from science fiction novels to reality!
Science fiction ideas that became reality in 2013
And here's the a list for 2012
