In my 30-year career as an engineer and scientist, I led and coauthored research on a variety of environmental and public health topics. My publication list includes >70 scientific journal articles (46), government reports, book chapters, guidance documents, technical manuals, and two academic dissertations. In these publications, I focused on telling factual stories about data to inform decisions for public health protection.
My new writing career focuses on high quality, thought-provoking, inspirational stories about women, drawing from my own rich life’s experiences. I’m excited to be sending my first novel, “Trying,” out to publishing agents shortly and look forward to sharing that story with the world. My passion for dance inspired my “just for fun” blog, Life Lessons from the Dance Floor. Other writing projects in various stages of development include a screenplay (adapted from my novel), second novel, memoir (“Mighty Misfit”), poetry collection, play, and personal essays.
I am a Resident Writer at the Melrose, MA Follow Your Art Community Studios and a member of Boston’s Grub Street Center for Creative Writing.
“The idea is not to live forever; it is to create something that will.” – Andy Warhol
“Writing is a calling, not a choice.” – Isabel Allende
“The idea is to write it so that people hear it and it slides through the brain and goes straight to the heart.” – Maya Angelou
“We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.” – Anais Nin
“I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions.” – James Michener
“Instructions for living a life. Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” – Mary Oliver.
“A writer, I think, is someone who pays attention to the world.” – Susan Sontag.
“Your intuition knows what to write, so get out of the way.” – Ray Bradbury
“Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart,” – William Wordsworth
“If something inside you is real, we will probably find it interesting, and it will probably be universal. So you must risk placing real emotion at the center of your work. Write straight into the emotional center of things.” – Anne Lamott
“If a story is in you, it has to come out.” – William Faulkner
Valerie Zartarian 