How I Became a Nurse Writer

Nurse Beth, MSN

I've always enjoyed writing. I love words.

Last summer I was home from work, laid up with a back injury. One morning while on Twitter, a Twitter friend of mine (and nurse blogger) asked, "Beth, when are you going to start blogging?"

Later that day, my husband came home for lunch to check on me. He asked if I needed anything and I said "Yes, honey. A MacBook Air laptop. They have them on sale at Best Buy."

Being the absolute sweetheart that he is, by that evening, I had my laptop. (I love it!)

By the next day, I had chosen a name for my blog (nursecode.com) and learned how to set up my own WordPress blog. WordPress is easy. There are tons of help sites and You Tube tutorials to get you started. It was much easier than I thought.

I started writing. That part was the easiest, because, like most nurses, I have lots of stories.

Once I had 5-6 posts written, I published my first one on Twitter, titled "I Was Suspended ", my story of being suspended without pay for 3 days as a new nurse for making a medication error.

That story was published in September of 2014. I've since published 90 posts at nursecode.com and my average daily views are over 2,000.

In addition, I write professionally for three other sites. @not_ratched on Twitter helped me get my first gig.

And it's all fun.

Are you passionate about writing but don't know how to get started?

It's true what they say- just start writing!

Looking back a year later, here's what I've learned.

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Find Your Niche

Bloggers and writers need to find their niche. A lot of successful nurses bloggers have branded themselves by identifying with a particular interest.

Joan, the NurseTeacher, is the one I am grateful to, and who got me started.

Perhaps the leading nurse bloggess out there is Brittney Wilson, the NerdyNurse, who is into all things technology. Then there's the Gypsy Nurse, who blogs about being a travel RN.

Kati Kleber, NurseEyeroll, blogs about being a new nurse, and she is extremely popular. Donna Maheady's niche and expertise is on empowering nurses with disabilities, and she has authored several articles here on allnurses as well as blogging at the eexceptionalnurse.com

There's the Yoga Nurse, and Marsha, The Bossy Nurse.

Lorie Brown is a legal nurse consultant and JD, and Lorrie Schoenly, better known as the "Correctional Nurse", writes about correctional nursing. There are so many more.

Most in the above illustrious group are authors as well as bloggers.

These are just a few examples of nurse bloggers and niches. Think about your niche. The benefit of a niche is that your readers have an idea what you'll be writing about.

My niche turned out to be how to interview, find jobs, and write resumes and cover letters. I'm also an outspoken advocate for working conditions in nursing.

Since I'm an educator, I also love to create teaching infographics and discuss nursing practice (

Find Your Style

Your voice or your style is where you're comfortable writing. Over time, your writing voice becomes recognizable as you. It's authentic.

Sometimes I break the rules and use sentence fragments, or start a sentence with "And". But no one is grading my articles with a red pen, and it's my style. My voice.

Find Your Tribe

I've made so many writing friends who have helped me. Sean Dent writes for Scrubs magazine and I pm'd him for advice on Twitter when I started. I was amazed when he responded and helped me out.

Kati Kleber asked me to guest post on her blog, NurseEyeroll, and it helped my readership grow. Btw, (fun factoid) Kati has published here on allnurses.

You can find a tribe on Facebook, where there are groups and pages devoted to helping each other get started as a blogger. Some find their tribe on Twitter, the SITs girls is a well known blogging group.

There's no need to go it alone, when so many nurses who have gone before are helpful and willing to share information. I have gotten several paid writing jobs by referral from other bloggers in my tribe, and we help each other by promoting each other's work.

As an example, if you are a nurse entrepreneur of any kind, Andrew Lopez on his Fb page Nurseup.com, is a nurse devoted to helping nurse entrepreneurs. Marsha Battee, TheBossyNurse, blogs about being in business for yourself.

Find Your Platform

I read somewhere that you can create the most beautiful painting in the world, but if you hang it in your garage, no one will ever know. A platform is where your work can get noticed. It can be LinkedIn, FaceBook, Instagram, Google Plus. For example, I post graphics on Pinterest that link back to my site at nursecode.com.

Concentrate on one or two platforms to get started. Engage your followers and grow your audience.

One of the biggest nursing platforms is right here on allnurses. With close to 1 million viewers a month, your article can be read by thousands of people. It's a unique opportunity to get published, and all you have to do is write and submit.

Learn from Others

Read what other nurse bloggers write. Study what they do- are they on Twitter? Facebook? How often do they post? Why do you think they are successful?

There are some excellent writers here on site, I always read Donna Maheady and Julie Reye's articles, and TheCommuter is another favorite of mine. There are many more. How about you? If you're a writer, what are your tips? If you're a reader, what are your thoughts?

Until next time friend,

Nurse Beth

How I Became a Nurse Writer

Find Your Niche

Find Your Style

Find Your Tribe

Find Your Platform

Learn from Others

About Nurse Beth, MSN

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