Friday musings: More about me
February 1, 2008 by Marijke Durning, RN
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
Friday Musings
People have asked what I do when I say I do health writing. Well, I do a little bit of everything. If you visit my blog, Marijke: nurse turned writer, you’ll see that I have an interest in many health-related topics. I try to write a post in that blog once a day. Most of the time, I’m successful, but every once in a while, paid work gets in the way.
Although I can and do write for both professionals and the regular every day healthcare consumer, my preference is for the consumer. I love writing for real people who have real problems. I love to take scary sounding, medical jargon and write it in a way that people understand it without being scared.
So, I do a bit of everything. I’ve written hundreds of patient educations sheets, such as “What is asthma,” and that sort of thing. I’ve written posters that doctors hang in their office so the patients can learn more about what they need. I also write articles and information for the doctors, pharmacists, and nurses who will be treating the patients who ask “what is asthma.”
I think I have the greatest job in the world. Seriously. I get to take my nursing knowledge and my love of writing to come here and write about something that I’m passionate about: helping people learn about their medical and health issues. My clients are great and the feed back I get is often very, very rewarding. Here’s to freelancing – and loving every minute of it.
Marijke- This is my first visit here, but will be coming back frequently. I’ve even RSS’d you.
Lisa
I have to say I like your style of writing very much and I’ll certainly come back here again to see what you have to say.
I’ve enjoyed the articles I’ve looked at so far, particularly the asthma one.
Thanks Lisa and Maureen – I appreciate you stopping by and leaving me a note.
Marijke – It’s great to learn more about you and what you do. I understand how you must love your job(s); being able to mesh one with the other surely benefits both! That’s why I love writing about mental health so much. I’m not employed in the mental health field (I’m simply a writer/editor), but I’m active in the mental health community. One day I hope to do more writing for it.
It’s great to hear more about you, thanks for sharing! I love writing too.
I’ve really enjoyed reading your articles here. I’ve always had a passion for medicine, new cures, ways to handle health concerns.
I appreciate your *layman’s language* as I get a much better understanding. Visiting some very techy websites can be confusing and you cut to the chase.
Keep up the good work !!
Thank you Meggie. It’s my goal to make information understandable so that it’s more accessible to everyone.
I envy you your job. And you do a great job of it!
I love reading your aticles. Keep up the good work.