There are many assumptions about writing and publishing that I believe create huge barriers to do either, especially for nurses. Like most nurses I know, I never set out to be a writer, and early in my career, I assumed that I could not do this. Moreover, like many people in general, I never particularly enjoyed the process of writing-in fact, I thought that folks who write journal articles and books must really love doing it! Furthermore, probably the most important thing is that I thought I could never find the time to do something so formidable as writing an article, much less a book!
Then one day, early in my career as a clinical nurse specialist (this was before nurse practitioners existed), I was working in a newly formed newborn intensive care unit. I was also in graduate school, which demanded more research and writing than I had ever contemplated, but I still did not envision myself as a writer. However, more and more, I began to notice that there was almost no nursing literature dedicated to newborn intensive care, and the medical literature did not do a particularly good job of addressing the vital role of nurses in the NICU. I noticed that many relatively simple procedures were described merely as techniques, with little or no discussion of the physiologic or anatomic basis for proper or best practice performance of the techniques. So I decided to write up some guidelines for the unit and include the rationale as a guideline for nurses on the unit for infant gavage feeding. Then, someone suggested that maybe I could submit an article to a nursing journal, and I figured "why not?" You can still see the result in the October 1971 issue of the American Journal of Nursing (http://journals.lww.com/ajnonline/Abstract/1971/10000/Infant_Gavage_Feeding_.35.).
Thus began my writing career! I never would have predicted the direction it has taken, but along the way, I have learned a few things about the process that might help you to get started! Here are some hints!
FINDING YOUR VOICE
As a nurse with clinical expertise, you do have something important to say. You may think that lots of other people already know what you know, but this is not likely to be the case! Here are a couple of clues to watch for:
* You know that there is a better way to do something than what you see happening around you. If you also do not find explanations in the journals you read affirming what you know, then you have found something important to say.
* People often ask you for advice or help, and you keep explaining things over and over. This may feel like a nuisance, but start analyzing what is going on, and focus on what they are asking for or needing from you. Once you get a focus on this, you have found something important to say.
GETTING STARTED WRITING
Overcoming the sense that you do not have time and that you cannot write or, even more damaging, that you cannot write because you do not like writing is not as hard as you might think! Some people do like writing from the beginning, but most people only start to warm up to the process after they gain some experience and skill. So getting started is the most important step you can take once you find something you want to say! It is true that writing takes time, but to get started, do not focus on the time, and only spend a few minutes at a time getting started. Here are a couple of ideas that might help:
* Send an email to someone-even to yourself-with a few sentences describing your idea. Do not try to write more than what comes to mind at the moment. Then, on the next day, send another email with a bit more detail about your idea. After a few days of doing this, look back at the emails to see what you have. Copy and paste them all together, and start playing with the ideas to see if you can put them together for a page of text. It is possible that you do and that you are now hooked into wanting to work on the ideas and fill them out a bit more. Once this "hook" happens, you are on you way.
* Record a discussion with someone about something you have found you want to say, explaining your idea. Ask their permission of course, but once you have even a few minutes of a discussion, stop the recording. Listen to it later that day or the next day. You might consider having it transcribed. Try writing the ideas down, even if all you can do write a list of points you heard on the recording. Take the notes you make, and start writing sentences explaining each point in more detail.
SET REALISTIC GOALS
Just because you have an idea that is worth writing about does not mean that you have to start planning a long, productive writing career! You might indeed find yourself on the brink of such a career, or you might only write one manuscript based on a single idea. To start, focus only on one project at a time. Whether this is your first, second, or third manuscript, focus only on the project that is in front of you at the moment, and even break down that project into realistic subgoals. Here are a couple of hints:
* Start out by making a list of things you want to get done to develop your notes about your idea into a finished article.
* Assess what you can realistically tackle each day, and plan each task on your list for a realistic time frame. As you move along, adjust your tasks and your time as needed.
This is not a magic formula for success, but I believe that, if you take even a few of these hints to heart and get started, you will find a path to completing a very satisfying project! I hope so, because nurses who read this journal have amazing skill, knowledge, experience, and talent that deserve to be shared!