What Am I Doing in This Place? When Who You Are and Who You Want to Be Collide: The Writer Becomes a Nurse, Then a Writer

photo by Sergey Nivens via Adobe Stock

Have you ever had the feeling you're in the wrong profession? I have. In fact, several years ago I attended a writer's conference at a university in New Jersey, and for weeks later castigated myself for giving up my pursuit of a writing career to become a nurse. 

The hours spent meeting and talking with other writers. The workshops that inspired me to go after my dream. The buzz of adrenaline that ran through my veins when I thought, "I can do this! I can be a writer!" All of it was wonderful. I was excited to be back at school, even for just a day. Walking the halls of that fine institution felt so right. I wanted to stay there, to be a part of it everyday. For years.

When reality hit on Monday morning I felt deflated, forlorn, a fraud when I had to put away my work-in-progress to attend to the needs of my patients. Second thoughts about my career choices hounded me:  

Writing a Vet - How My Character Led Me to Take on the Plight of Our Returning Veterans

Here's a little insight about being a writer: Sometimes a character can surprise its author.  She can turn out to be someone more powerful than the author imagined, drive the story in new directions, grab hold of the writer's imagination and not let go until she's completely fleshed out and satisfied.

photo by Scukrov via Dreamstime.com

This is what happened with my character Devon Keane, Aerin's mom in my young adult novel Swim Season. Veteran’s Day is a great day to tell you about Devon, an Army Reserve nurse, who demanded I tell her story because it’s the story of many women who serve in our military.

The story: Devon was on duty in the ER at St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York City the day terrorists struck down the Twin Towers. This hospital, just outside Ground Zero, was the first stop for victims and recovery workers in need of medical care. Deeply affected by the events of that day, Devon volunteered to work double shifts during the rescue and recovery effort. When the US went to war with Afghanistan, she enlisted in the Army Reserve, against her husband's wishes,  to provide care to the troops. 

On her second tour of duty, she participated in a mercy mission to help locals in a nearby village and was caught up in a suicide bombing. Shrapnel ripped through her right hip, requiring surgery resulting in complications, infection, chronic pain issues, an addiction to narcotic painkillers, and post-traumatic stress disorder.  She returned to her family as so many other veterans do: broken in body and spirit. Her drug addiction eventually led her to steal narcotics from her employer. She was caught, took a plea deal, and is serving a six-month sentence with rehabilitation during her daughter's last high school swim season.

I didn’t know Devon too well at the start of the story.  She’s absent other than being referred to in conversations and letters and doesn’t come on to the stage until page 170. The funny thing is that as I approached the scene where Devon enters the story as a full character, I found myself excited to finally meet her. She intrigued me, and I lingered over the writing of it.  I grew attached to her, and when I finished the chapter I was unable to go on with the story for a few weeks because I didn’t want to leave her behind. She only makes two more appearances in the book, but is present in other ways, including letters and email, and her love for Aerin pervades the entire novel.

I have no military experience and don’t know any female vets or soldiers personally, so I did my research for this character through literature.  I spent the summer of 2014 reading a number of different memoirs to learn about women’s experience in war, the work of military nurses, and coming home.  Some of the best I read were Love My Rifle More Than You by Kayla Williams, Soldier Girls - The Battles of Three Women at Home and at War by Helen Thorpe, and Ruff’s War, by Cdr. Cheryl Lynn Ruff, USN and Cdr. K. Sue Roper, USN (Ret.) All of these provided great insight and answered a lot of questions.  Studying these soldiers’ stories gave me a great appreciation for their service and sacrifice.

Characters can lead us into new worlds, teach us new things, and take us places we didn’t plan to go.  I would not have researched these military women were it not for writing the story of Devon Keane.  This research has enabled me to be a better nurse to the veterans I serve in my role as a campus nurse at a community college.

I’ve decided to write a sequel to Swim Season, and this will be about Devon and her recovery and re-entrance into society after she's released from her incarceration. As I go on to write this story, I will continue to read the literature and reach out to veterans for personal interviews to deepen my insight.

As our veterans return from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and from other hot spots around the globe, it’s important we recognize their dedication.  Parades and platitudes are great, but our vets deserve a health system that meets all their needs – physical and mental – without delays and with the best medical care possible.  Politics should not be a part of this equation.  Our soldiers deserve the best.  After all, that’s what they give us.

Learn more about Swim Season.

June is Alzheimer's and Brain Awareness Month! Goodreads Giveaway: One Paperback of Blue Hydrangeas, an Alzheimer's Love Story

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Blue Hydrangeas

by Marianne Sciucco

Giveaway ends June 30, 2015.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to Win


"Read it twice just to make sure I didn't miss anything." - Amazon reader

What if the person who knew you best and loved you most forgot your face, and couldn't remember your

name?  

A nursing facility is everyone's solution for what to do about Sara, but her husband, Jack, can't bear to live without her. He is committed to saving his marriage, his wife, and their life together from the devastation of Alzheimer's disease. He and Sara retired years ago to the house of their dreams, and operated it as a Cape Cod bed and breakfast named Blue Hydrangeas.  

Jack has made an impossible promise: He and Sara will stay together in their beautiful home no matter what the disease brings. However, after nine years of selfless caregiving, complicated by her progressing Alzheimer's and his own failing heart, he finally admits he can no longer care for her at home.  

With reluctance, he arranges to admit her to an assisted living facility. But, on the day of admission, Sara is having one of her few good days, and he is unable to follow through. Instead, he takes them on an impulsive journey to confront their past and reclaim their future. In the end, he realizes that staying together at any cost is what truly matters.

A Library Journal Self-e Selection

IndieReader Approved

IndieRecon Best Indie Novel, 2014

5-Star Reader's Favorite

Kindle Bestseller

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Guest Author: Judith Lucci, Creator of Author 911, an Online Resource For Writers Writing Medical Scenes

Today’s guest is Judith Lucci, creator and administrator of Author 911: The Authors’ Writing & Medical Academy, an online resource for writing medical scenes. Judith brings a wealth of knowledge and decades of experience to this website. She’s a registered nurse and has worked in the ICU, ER, neurology, medical & surgery, home health, and public health nursing. She’s also a professor of nursing at a large university in the South and holds graduate and doctoral degrees from Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Virginia. Judith has authored textbooks, research studies, theoretical articles, policies and just about anything needed in a clinical or educational environment. She is also the author of the Alex Destephano Medical Thriller Series, which currently includes three titles: Chaos at Crescent City Medical Center, The Imposter, and Viral Intent. Welcome to Adventures in Publishing, Judith! Please tell us about Author 911.

Thanks for inviting me to speak to your readers, Marianne. Author 911: The Authors & Writers’ Medical Academy is my latest project to help authors write medical scenes correctly. The site includes interviews with experts in a variety of areas in healthcare and medicine, links to educational websites on the workings of the human body, a tutorial on ballistics and gunshots, and information on poisons and fight scenes. There’s also writing tips and author spotlights. It’s all new and under development and I hope it allows writers to create believable, realistic stories.

Your Alex Destephano medical series has gotten outstanding reviews. Please tell us about them.

My Alex Destephano novels are a compilation of my very active imagination, my years as a clinical nurse, and current events in the news.  The main characters are Alexandra Destephano, a nurse attorney who is legal counsel for Crescent City Medical Center, and Jack Francoise, a dedicated, gnarly, unyielding New Orleans police commander who covers the 8th Precinct and the French Quarter, where in the deepest, sleazy and sordid areas copious crime occurs. Add in dashing surgeon Robert Bonnet, Alex's ex-husband, and psychiatrist Monique Desmonde, her best friend, and the cast is complete. Crescent City Medical is intent on offering the best care in the world but is constantly challenged by competition, health care reform, incompetent management, psychopaths, murder and viral disease outbreaks, not to mention bad guys intent on doing the hospital harm. Chaos at Crescent City Medical Center, The Imposter, Viral Intent and Toxic New Year (release date Winter 2015) are fast-paced, riveting medical thrillers that offer readers believable drama and memorable characters and allows them to escape into the complex, often mysterious world of health care. 

What are your goals as a writer?

I have three goals when I write: to engage the reader to keep them reading, to entertain the reader and to educate them. I have been a college professor and clinician for many years, and each of my books has underlying themes. In Chaos I talk about the changes in health care based on the Affordable Care Act. The Imposter highlights the dismal state of psychiatric medicine in the US. Viral Intent highlights ethical and political issues currently in society.

 

What is the time span in your novel?

Chaos takes place over a week, The Imposter a week as well, and Viral Intent only four days. Toxic New Year spans several months.

How much research goes into your writing?

There is a ton of research in all of my books. I know a lot about medicine and health care but not so much about explosives, AK47s, drones and counterterrorism.

When, why, and how did you start writing?

I have been writing ever since I can remember. For many years, as an academician I wrote research reports, theoretical articles, and textbooks, and I only returned to fiction writing in recent years.  I love writing…It allows me to continue to teach and educate my readers as well as entertain them.   Writing allows me a ‘work through’ and rights the wrongs that I have experienced in clinical practice.

What inspires you?

I am inspired by my readers. There is nothing more exciting for me than to receive an email from one of them or a great review.  They energize me and propel me forward.

Where do you get your ideas?

My plot lines come from copious research, my experience, a TV show, the newspaper, almost everywhere.  An ongoing plot line in all of my novels came from the New Orleans Police Department website for unsolved crimes.

How much do you read? Which genres?    

                     

I read incessantly. I love thrillers, literary fiction, suspense, historical fiction, just about everything.  I am amazed by people who say to me “I never read.  I don’t have any time.”  I have learned about people and the world by reading. I cannot imagine a life without books.

Can you tell us what you’re working on now?

I am currently working on the fourth Alex book, Toxic New Year, which I hope to release in a few months. I also have another series, Michaela McPherson, Private Eye.  Mic is a retired homicide detective in Richmond, VA who, no matter how hard she tries,  cannot retire. These will be shorter books but just as exciting as the Alex series.

What advice do you have for beginning authors?

My advice would be to read, revise, write, read, revise, write, revise and get a great editor.  It is impossible for many authors, myself included, to edit ourselves and find simple errors that don’t stand out to us.

Thank you, Judith. Best wishes on Author 911 and your medical series.

Judith loves to connect with readers. You can visit her blog or contact her via email at  judithlucciwrites@gmail.com. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and her new website Author911.

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