Roberta Cannon
Photo Credit: Selissa Johnson [email protected] I firmly believe there is a “gem” in every story, which is the soul or heart of the piece that completes it. |
After many years in nursing, I decided to take a different career path for a couple of years and accepted a position as a newspaper general assignments reporter in early 2000. A piece I had written about surviving breast cancer was published in a local newspaper and that moment inspired me to begin writing. A timely ad for a newspaper reporter drew me to my next adventure.
On my first day of work as a general assignments reporter, I commented to my then-16-year-old daughter that nerves were getting the best of me because I had never done an interview. My very wise daughter said to me, “Mom, you do interviews every day when you ask your patients about their medical history, what brings them into the hospital, and what you can do to help them.” From that moment on, interviewing, freelance writing, and nursing have encompassed my world of telling stories. Over the past 20+ years, I have written about a variety of topics from soldiers’ initial deployments to Iraq, the Rhode Island Station Night Club fire, teen drug abuse, homelessness, cancer survivorship (including my own cancer survivorship), advances in medicine, mental health issues, to how to prepare your pet for winter, gift buying, and informational pieces for non-profits. It is my honor and privilege to combine my love of nursing with writing and I look forward to continuing the melding of these two special careers. Among all the stories I have done over the years, one of my most memorable was the infamous “Queen of Suspense,” Mary Higgins-Clark, author of 38 suspense novels. She was a delight to talk with and very gracious about a spur-of-the-moment interview. |
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