People ask me about my journey as a writer, how I got a book contract, and what happened next. I used to be a research scientist at UCLA, writing articles for public health journals and research reports for policy makers. I did not write stories. In fact, I didn't think I could. I thought that kind of imagination wasn't my gift. One day, there was a break between projects. I started writing, precipitously and passionately. The reason eludes me, but I had the time so I wrote a