ONCE A NURSE, ALWAYS A NURSE By Jane Van De Velde, DNP, RN

My nursing career has taken me down many paths over the years. Presently, I am a Reiki Master Teacher as well as the founder of a nonprofit organization called The Reiki Share Project. People often ask me what I “do.” And I usually begin by telling them that I am a registered nurse. Their next…… Continue reading ONCE A NURSE, ALWAYS A NURSE By Jane Van De Velde, DNP, RN

MEETING GOALS

meeting goals

I’ve written about getting this book done so a draft will be finished by September first. (Post: Time To Get Serious). I’ve listed goals to be accomplished by the end of each month. I only have to tweak one story to meet my target for April and since there is one more day in April,…… Continue reading MEETING GOALS

BEST TIME TO BE A WRITER

Seems that this is a great time to be a writer. At least that’s what I heard at the fifth annual Triangle Area Freelancers Nonfiction Writers Conference yesterday. I had attended the last three. Each year only gets better. What I liked most was the conference was small enough to feel part of a friendly,…… Continue reading BEST TIME TO BE A WRITER

Write What You Are Afraid Of

Afraid to write

I didn’t attend the 2011 Fall Conference in Asheville sponsored by the North Carolina Writers Network but I kept this description of one of the master classes: “If You’re Afraid to Write About It, You Probably Should Write About It”    Often a writer’s breakthrough comes when he finally faces up to material he’s been avoiding.…… Continue reading Write What You Are Afraid Of

Time To Get Serious

I woke up one morning this past January and decided it was time to get serious about losing weight and finishing the book. First of all, I have been carrying around ten extra pounds for years until they magically morphed into twenty extra pounds. Second, over the past seven years I have written and rewritten…… Continue reading Time To Get Serious

SOB SISTERS

Thanks to my friend Lois Roelofs and her post “Growing Older In “Style,” I found Ari Seth Cohen, a twenty-eight-year-old who is spotlighting “stylish senior citizens.” Love it. Older women—and men—who ignore the old adage: “dress your age.” How come a twenty-eight-year-old man finds older people so fascinating? Well, I was sure there had to…… Continue reading SOB SISTERS

Humor and Humility

It started out on a rainy day in January. Like the rest of overweight America, I had resurrected old New Year resolutions. I wandered into a branch of a not-to-be-identified weight loss program and approached a young lady sorting out pamphlets. After giving me the information I requested, she excitedly told me that I would…… Continue reading Humor and Humility

A Nurse By Any Other Name—

I read the New York Times article, A Small Picture Approach to Health Care last week with so what’s new thoughts hopping in my head. Sure, the economics of funding health care services continues to be a challenge but we nurses can see the real change agent of this model’s Advocate Health Care approach is the…… Continue reading A Nurse By Any Other Name—

Never Too Old

I am empowered knowing age does not limit our creativity. James Arruda Henry learned to read and write in his mid-nineties. He didn’t stop there but went on to write a book: In a Fisherman’s Language. As a gerontological nurse practitioner and woman of a certain age I am delighted to promote his story.

Long Lost Story

Just last week I came across a folder in an old box on the bottom of a closet. There I found accordion-pleated sheets of paper where I had written about the Donovan family in single space dot-matrix some twenty years ago. Bill Donovan had lung cancer with metastasis to his bones and brain. He died…… Continue reading Long Lost Story