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
Category: Nursing Stories
Write What You Are Afraid Of
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
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
The Murder Building
When I visited a patient in my caseload that lived in an “unsafe” part of the city, I went in the morning. Right after the pimps and drug dealers had called it a night and before the shop keepers pulled up the bars over the store windows and the women came out to sweep the…… Continue reading The Murder Building
Unsolved Mystery?
This happened long ago. I worked for a hospital-based home care program. We, nurse practitioners, received referrals from physicians who had exhausted all options to prolong the patients’ life. We visited the patient in his home and helped the family care for him until death. Traditional hospice services were not an option as yet. My…… Continue reading Unsolved Mystery?
Not Guilty
On my last post, I speculated that Betty, the wife of one of my patients, Mr. G, might have been plotting to do him in. Now my friend, co-worker at the time, Jane Van De Velde, writes that Mr. G was admitted to the hospital because his hemoglobin was very low and he died there.…… Continue reading Not Guilty
There Are Some Patients We Never Forget
When you have been a nurse as long as I have there are patients who take residence in your memories and resurface frequently. They could almost be family except they have a short history in your life. What they were like before or after you knew them usually remains a mystery. Mr. G was a…… Continue reading There Are Some Patients We Never Forget
Getting Older: Charting the Uncharted 