Getting started—a personal story

I became a nurse before I became a writer, so how did that transition happen?

A colleague and I were working as clinical specialists in a small NJ city hospital where the staff was somewhat resistant to our efforts to improve the quality of nursing and patient care. Granted, inroads were made, but progress was achieved at what we considered a snail’s pace. To cope with a particularly frustrating day, we came up with a question for ourselves that turned into an idea for a presentation—“What to do while you’re waiting for change”—and pitched it to the Colorado Nurses Association conference, Chautaugua ’77. At the same time, my colleague had written a letter to the C.V. Mosby Company (now a division of Elsevier) suggesting some topics for publication. A rep called her, she told him about our presentation, and he met us in Vail to better understand what we were talking about. Then he asked us to write a book.

Writing something that length sounded intimidating and time consuming, but we thought we could at least write the intro and a chapter each, plus a chapter together that put our presentation into print. Then we rounded up nurse colleagues we respected and asked them to write chapters for the book as well.

The process from concept to publication took almost 2 years, and then Mosby decided to cancel the series. For all our work, we had a lovely bound book to our credit, but one that didn’t sell widely. Yet we also had a terrific experience that taught us the lesson I mentioned yesterday: nurses have great stories and ought to share them. And, although it can be hard work, it can also be rewarding, fun, and perhaps a leg up on a new career.

I’m not telling you to start with a book—that was a fortuitous event for us—but what started it was an idea. So what is your idea?