Blog Posts
Whoops, Where Did That Year Go?
Dear friends, It has been an event-filled year in my life and so you haven’t heard from me in a while. There were a few challenges that stalled my writing life: early-detected cancer (thank you, Baystate doctors for catching that so early), Carpal Tunnel Syndrome that made it hard to write and type (thank you…
Being a Scientist and a Novelist … Isn’t That an Oxymoron?
Cultural Division of the Sciences and Humanities We live in a culture where facility with science, facts and numbers are considered left brain activities and creative endeavors like fiction, painting and music are considered right brain activities. Individuals are supposedly trapped into primarily using one half their brain or the other. Further emphasizing this division,…
As a Willow Grows So Does a Story
One of the most common questions people ask an author is: How long did it take to write the book? Some writers churn out a book a year and others take 5 or 10 years. The answer for me with Breathing Water is more complicated and I’ll tell the story with this willow tree. …
Donna Barten: Writer, Scientist and One Who Wonders…
I first became interested in writing fiction while co-leading writing groups in a women’s prison. I volunteered with Voices From Inside as a balance to my work as a research neuroscientist, where I ran a lab studying treatments for Alzheimer’s disease for over 20 years. In these small groups of women I not only heard…
Donna Barten 