Children's Author
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Growing Up Writing
Story time for me has always been nearly as much fun as digging into a chocolate soda—both treats brim with sweetness and spark. So when it came time for university, I was torn between learning to be a chef or a writer.
Dad had other ideas, though. These were times when all fields were opening up for women. Why wouldn’t a girl like me study engineering?
Why indeed... I finally agreed to study science, as long as the applications were in the life sciences, with credits in food chemistry.
Four years of living as a science student at the University of Toronto taught me how to cook hamburger 59 ways—and, as well, many intriguing secrets from the natural world. But the only creative writing opportunity I had during that period was my thesis on oil rancidity. If I wanted to write, I would need to find a job in communications.
I began my career not in a science lab but in an office. My first real job was editing the Canadian Journal of Biochemistry. Chief of Journals was a stickler for punctuation, consistency, and accuracy. Thanks to her, my grounding in the mechanics of writing was cemented firmly into place.
But academic publishing didn’t leave much room for the imagination. I needed a career move. Environment Canada stepped in with an offer. Would I like to adapt science information for the public? It sounded ideal. This post soon led to a publishing position with Agriculture Canada. In agriculture, I finally got the chance to blend my interest in science with my love of food, helping researchers bring their results to Canadian tables. We adapted and published original science for farmers, the agri-food industry, and legislators, in areas like nutrition, the environment, and land management. My writing experience grew along with the yields on Canada’s farms.
Presenting science to kids....
The most fun, though, came in the last five years of my government job. Politicians began to see value in explaining the work of government scientists to kids. So we brought the magic of science into the schools through TV shows, magazine articles, and posters, as well as new media—the Internet and CD-ROMs.
Finally, I was doing what I had dreamt of doing—telling stories to kids.
With retirement from my government job comes free time. Writing has given me some seeds I can use to sprout a new kind of life—one focused on Kids’ Lit. My reviews of books for and about kids have been published on the Ottawa Public Library’s website. And some benefits have come my way through entering stories in various competitions. I'm taking courses, participating in critique groups with other writers, and telling stories to kids in schools and my own kitchen through a program called Cook Up a Story.
What makes my stories unique? It’s probably equal parts a love of the natural world and a fondness for good food. My fiction is enriched with tidbits from science. And my nonfiction is spiced with a slice of story telling.
Memories of raising two daughters help me write about kids learning to trust in their own talents.
Check out my experience as a children’s writer in my resumé and see samples of stories and articles from my portfolio.
Write to me at rudnitski@cyberus.ca