NaNoWriMo My fourth fiction novel, entitled Not a Chance, was published on October 31, 2018. It’s a little fitting that NaNoWriMo eve is the release date since I wrote the first draft of this novel during 2014 National Novel Writing Month. Overall I can claim 6 NaNoWri wins, despite crawling to the finish with 2 […]
I was ecstatic when I accepted my first nursing job at the state psychiatric hospital. I considered pursuing psychology during college, but instead chose nursing. Therefore, being able to work in mental health nursing felt like the best of both worlds. That is, until I told the other nurses I worked with in women’s health about my new job. Instead of sharing in my elation, several responded with, “That’s fine, until you can get a real nursing job.” I heard this expression multiple times over the years and sadly; it was often from other nurses.
I’m a writer who became a nurse. Then I went full circle and became a nurse who writes. Yet, in many of my nursing positions I’ve been asked about my real nursing job, when in reality, I’ve always had one. The ability to support those suffering from mental illness as they struggled to attain better mental health wellness provided great rewards as well as personal and professional satisfaction. These rewards could almost be comparable to a nurse helping someone heal from physical wounds.
I’ve been a nurse for many years, a fiction author for a handful of them, and a writer all my life. After years of writing fiction, branching into non-fiction freelance writing seemed like a natural progression. With a goal of being able to efficiently, and effectively, write both fiction and freelance, I didn’t want to waste time with futile efforts that would only create more work for myself. But since I was already established with a website and on social media as a fiction author surely adding freelance writing would be easy, right? Right?
