On the topic of what I struggle with:

Dialogue dialogue dialogue.  I cannot possibly say it enough: I suck at it.  Creating believable analogies is up there, too.  But dialogue is the winner

When I started taking my writing seriously:

When I was 8.  I wrote a story entitled “Ashes” that involved fleeing from a volcano eruption in Nebraska.  From this story, I can see many things about myself: 1. I already knew the concept of “write what you know” as can be seen in the fact that the entire story took place in my hometown; 2. I was already very interested in science and science fiction; 3. I was simply terrible with geography.  Seriously?  Volcanoes in Nebraska?  

On where I stand as a writer:

In college, I was roped into taking a course entitled “Art of the Essay.”   I had nothing else with which to fill my schedule, and the course description had the words “David Sedaris” (who is always made of win) in it, so I wandered in that first day blissfully unaware that I had made a terrible, terrible mistake.

The first piece I wrote for the class (there’s a link for it below) taught me what I consider the most important lesson of writing I have ever received: there is no greater feeling than what accompanies making someone laugh so hard they fall out of their chair.  From that moment on, I was hooked.  Writing to evoke emotion was my personal form of cocaine.

I was blessed with an amazing teacher for both semesters of Essay, a woman who let me do more or less whatever I wanted as long as the prose was solid.  I played with form (once writing a four-page prose acrostic – something I really don’t recommend doing unless you are feeling especially suicidal), delved into personal stories and discovered a deep love for creative nonfiction.  It isn’t a field that most dabble in (or even know exist), but it is the place I will run to first when a writing bug hits.

There was a small snag: I was majoring in Physics, not English.  And, even above writing, I love science.  But because of the Essay courses, there was no walking away from writing now.  I had to find a medium…and I’m still finding it.  Science writing is small, fierce field, but one that I’m slowly climbing into.

What I most want to improve on:

Well…dialogue.  That’s a big one.

My fiction has become abysmally unpolished because of how much time I’ve devoted to nonfiction.  I’ve forgotten what it is like to make a new character and present her in a way that is believable and enjoyable.  I think if I could delve back into character creation, something new would come of it.

End ramblings:

I think, in the end, my true goal will always be to make people laugh.  Be it with strange and beautiful science or ridiculous fiction, that is my aim.  Would it be so terrible to go back to the idea of volcanoes in Nebraska?  I think I’ve let myself become too serious.  Maybe there doesn’t have to be that deep, pulling, yearning meaning behind every single thing I write.  Maybe it isn’t in perfect theme/meaning that true stories lie, but rather in perfectly amusing character creation or perfectly delightful dialogue.

Maybe it’s time to start looking for life on dead planets.