You should write a book!

I have met a fourth person who I have spent time talking with, who is of the opinion I should write a book.  It is a strange experience to have this encouragement.  I like to write.  Each of these people has a firm idea of what I should write - actually, I lie, three of them do, the other doesn't care so much, but feels that it should be done, because then I would be able to live the life the he feels I deserve. 

I consider the idea often.  Since I like to write.  But then I consider, who would read what I would write? 

I haven't ever imagined that I am much of a fiction writer - I have dabbled in fan fiction - and had some mild success there.  It is fun to play with a full formed construct, and pad out some moments that aren't part of canon.  And one does do it for love of a genre or a pairing, and there is a lot, A LOT,  of it out there.  And I still enjoy reading fan fiction, but it really is like playing with someone else's dolls, more fantasy than your own made up fictions - if you will? 😏 

Which leads me to the subjects the other three encouragers (is that even a word?!) My endocrinologist would like me to write something for health professionals about being on both sides of the chronic illness experience.  I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 1982.  I became a registered nurse in 2005.  I am not the first, and I won't be the last, but there seem to be a lot of people out there who really do not get how to actually manage people with diabetes, or any chronic illness, to be honest.

My mother would like to see something of my experiences as a nurse.  She first mentioned the idea when I was talking about experiences I had working on a transplant ward - the title being "You can't take it with you!".  It has been a while since I have worked in the area, and really, talking about my experiences in a specialised field feels a bit icky in regards to confidentiality and the like.  In fact, the whole discussion of talking about nursing doesn't really sit well with me at all, tbh.

The most recent suggestions also had a title.  I was talking about my pre-nursing experiences, stating that I must have been a nurse's nightmare when I was on the other side of the bed, and that I often felt that having been on both sides of the bed had been influential in my clinical practice. Hence, the title "The other side of the bed" - also touching on nursing, but about experiences that I think about from when I was the family member at the bedside, and how I see them now, as I health professional, on the other side of the bed.   Hmmm I have said that a lot - but it is something I carry close to my heart.

So some really good ideas there - except that I do not find that I want to make them anything more than the ideas that they are.  Which I suspect, is kind of a key point.  I do not want to write autobiographically.  I am aware that the way I remember and recall experiences isn't the same as other poeple may remember them - and it makes me uncomfortable.

So it feels like I have to play with something new.  I have yet to discover what that is.. As it is, I write here, and a few people stop by and poke around.  I DO like the idea of writing a book.. of some sort.. someday.. soon, I think.. Maybe I will just start writing, see what happens, and find myself with a book of short stories, and then who knows?