http://www.educationworld.com/showbizsci...
Vicki Cobb's website if chock-full of information for readers, writers and teachers. Vicki is a popular speaker for educators and students alike. Please take some time to visit.
1.SR: Vicki, when and how did your great interest in science begin?
VC: I had a very unusual education. After attending a private, progressive school in Greenwich Village, NYC I went to a public junior-senior high school in Tarrytown, NY. When I was in tenth grade I took a test that allowed me to skip the last two years of high school to attend the University of Wisconsin. I didn't know I'd be good in science because I hadn't had much. I enrolled in a two-year survey in liberal arts that covered the sciences, social sciences and the humanities from the Greeks to present day. It was a great background for every major except a science major. My first science course, "Physical Universe" or PU for short was an eye-opener. Taught by a master, Aaron Ihde, it riveted my attention. When I transferred to Barnard in my junior year, I decided to be a zoology or animal life major and I played catch-up taking all kinds of science courses to fill in. I took undergraduate physics and calculus when I got into graduate school. I often think I would have gone into math and physics if I had it to do over again.
2.SR: When did you decide to try your hand at writing and how did you get started?
VC: I became a junior-high science teacher. When I became pregnant with my first child, I looked for a way to earn money at home while being a mom. There was an ad in the NY Times for teachers to write educational materials. I figured if I could talk about science I could write about it. My first book was like a "Cliff Notes" high school chemistry book. I wrote it and got paid for it but it wasn't published. However, I learned that writing a book means just keeping at it, one sentence after another and after a while the pages pile up and you have a book.
