Having articles published is a definite boost to a career. Getting your first article published stimulates your writing efforts and establishes more credibility with your clients.
My first article
I always enjoyed reading books and creative writing classes I took in high school. When I was in graduate school, I took a course that involved interviewing people with various psychological disturbances. One of the people was a battered wife who had been paralyzed by her spouse. I was intrigued by why she stayed in that relationship; I decided to do my paper for the course on domestic violence.
My nursing professor said to me, “This is a great paper. You ought to turn it into an article.” I said, “How do I do that?” The professor explained a little bit of the process: Find a journal in my field, look at the writing style, review the requirements for submitting an article for publication, and send it in to the journal.
Unrecognizable article
After I sent in my article and it was accepted, to my surprise someone copyedited it to the point that I couldn’t find a single sentence that I had written. Later I found that was the style of that particular journal. The journal published my article, The Battered Wife, in 1980. The experience encouraged me to keep writing.
Additional articles
The second article that I wrote flowed from a paper that I presented at the American Diabetes Association Annual Conference on pregnancy and diabetes. My paper was based on work I did in graduate school. The association’s editor asked me to turn the presentation into an article.
Next, I poured my heart into a third article about my experiences having a premature baby. I explained the circumstances of my first son’s birth and included advice to nurses to help parents who were going through a similar experience. I have been writing for publication ever since.
Today, we can all be publishers of our thoughts and share expertise in blogs, either our own or as a guest blogger. What are the innovations making a difference in your business? What can you share that positions yourself as a business person, an authority, or a thought leader? How can you influence your industry by what you’ve learned to be true? Think strategically and creatively and then start writing.
