This seems like a good time to revisit an earlier post as I start on my second book, which will be about various home visits I have made over the years. It originally appeared on April 7, 2013.
Recording sad, depressing, and unpleasant experiences is challenging. They are often the stories we nurses would rather block from memory. I empathize with nurses who choose not to write while, at the same time, I encourage them to do so. Motivation varies from writer to writer, and composing my stories grants me an absolution of sorts. Revealing my reactions to clinical situations will be challenging. But then who said writing is easy?
Four women in my Wednesday evening non-fiction workshop graciously agreed to be my beta-readers and look over my manuscript during a two week break, following suggestions outlined by our leader, Carol Henderson. What Carol stressed, among other things, was not to get bogged down with spelling and formatting but look for flow, bumps and where you fall asleep. How does the narrator come across? Make a note where things are not clear.
The four women are talented writers. Their stories deep, interesting and well told. I consider myself lucky to have willing and skilled readers. Their feedback, positive and negative, can only improve my book. They have heard my stories, isolated, standing alone, without any connection to what had happened before or followed next. Now for the first time they would have the whole picture of my creation.
Stein On Writing
The “corrected” manuscripts (Sol Stein, Stein on Writing,
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Nursing Stories & Other Tales 