"I'd NEVER try to tell my mother what I do every day." That was the response Jennifer Boeth Donovan, a science writer, heard from a biochemist she once interviewed. Donovan was trying to get the scientist to explain her work in something approximating lay English, so she could understand it well enough to re-explain it in her article.

After several unsuccessful attempts, Donovan had asked her usually foolproof question: "Tell me what you do every day the way you would explain it to your mother." With a horrified expression, the biochemist had replied that she would never try to tell her mom what she does every day.

"I have been making a living writing and editing for over 30 years," Donavan explains. She now writes for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute where she is the science education editor.

But getting to this point was not a straight shot for Donovan. She always knew she wanted to write, but never expected to specialize in science.

"I worked as a general assignment reporter and feature writer on newspapers and worked my way up to a level of trust from editors that enabled me to cover what I liked best," she said. To her surprise, medical science and everything related to the topic were her favorite stories. Even people close to Donovan would never have expected her to pick science.