New digs...
...and new beginnings
Unfurled
Welcome to my new place!
This is the first issue of Healing Ink™, where you will find inspiration and support for your writing.
I’m sure you have stories from your unique experiences in healthcare and your one-of-a-kind adventure as a human being. This is your safe haven with other docs to relate to one another through the written word. Write here. Express, process, heal, influence, and inspire.
Come on in and take a look around. I’m still sorting out the boxes and unpacking, but the coffee’s on, and I’ll always have a cup for you.
In This Issue
Squared Away
Circling Up
Speaking of Writing
Approaching The End
Citius, Altius, Fortius
Opening Remarks
Squared Away
The first ever Writing & Storytelling in Healthcare virtual conference was a huge success!
Attendees hailed from Louisiana to Alberta, from Massachusetts to Michigan. We shared thousands of words, including poetry and essays. We practiced writing from an artifact. And we heard from fabulous guest speakers: Dr. Gaetan Sgro, who spoke about processing through poetry, and Dr. Alyssa Vigliotti, who spoke about developing a writing practice.
Big thanks to our Sustaining Sponsors: Aurora Corialis Publishing, Authentic Medicine, DPC News, Hollow Oak Press, New Ohio Review, Poet Chuck Joy, Sentence Savvy Editing and Proofreading, and Em S. A’cor Books.
Check out the participants’ comments about the event here. The next Writing & Storytelling in Healthcare virtual conference will be in April. Registration opens soon!
Circling Up
If you’re looking for a writing group with other doctors, the Iron Writing Circle for Healthcare Professionals is for you. Group members submit up to 1,500 words every week, and we meet on Thursday evenings via Google Meet to give and receive feedback. Registration is open! The first of the four-week session starts on January 9, so sign up ASAP.
(FYI, one-on-one writing support is available, too.)
Speaking of Writing
I’m delighted to announce I have been invited to speak at the Writing Conference of Northern Appalachia on March 7-8 in Loretto, Pennsylvania on the campus of St. Francis University. My talk will be “Confessions of a Writing Group Junkie.” It’s diving distance from a number of metro areas: New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, D.C., Cleveland, and Pittsburgh. Would love to see you there!
Approaching The End
My primer, Writing & Storytelling in Healthcare, will vanish as the publishing platform that houses it, Kindle Vella, also vanishes. Click here for the last chance to read it!
Citius, Altius, Fortius
Please follow me on Bluesky for writing inspiration and other fun posts. https://bsky.app/profile/drmariaonwriting.bsky.social
Opening Remarks
“The best way to predict the future is to create it.”
See you next month for the next dose of Healing Ink™.
— Maria Simbra, MD, MA, MPH, Director and Principal of Ironed Words Productions, LLC