Another day, another topic

I received a couple interesting emails over the past few weeks. One person was curious about why I picked the subjects I do and someone else wanted to know why I write a blog on health-related (mostly) information and does anyone really care about such a topic on a daily basis?

I’ll answer the second question first. I get some hits every day. I get people who come and look, and never come back, but I also have some readers who come back often, some as often as every day. I like to think that they care. Of course, I’d love it if the blog was so popular that I received hundreds of hits a day, but I write my blog because I want to. To be honest though, part of it is also for marketing. With my medical and health writing, much of it is very professional or official. Many of my projects that are more casual, for the general public, aren’t readily available to provide as clips, so I like to tell potential clients to visit my more casual style of writing in my blog. I think it gives them a good idea of how my writing can change to suit the audience.

The first question doesn’t really have an set answer. I often choose my topic from something that I read in the news or a link I added to my “News for Today” (or Today’s news, whatever I feel like calling it at the moment). For instance, there are several interesting bits today that I will probably use over the next few days. I like the story on hip protectors and the elderly because broken bones among our seniors is a huge problem. But the NY diabetes story is big, in my opinion. Then again, so is the mammography one and so is the prostate cancer one. So, whichever one feels my particular need of the day is the one that might be chosen.

Other topics depend on the mood I’m in. The day I wrote about my brother’s suicide, I had been reading a few things on depression on suicide and he was really on my mind. Writing about letting kids take chances is something that’s long been on my mind. I went for a walk the other evening and during my 25-minute walk in suburbia in the early evening when it was still light out. My husband and I did not see *1* child or teen-ager outside. That bothered me a lot. It was too quiet. There were no street hockey games, no basketball being played, no cycling, no skateboarding. There was no laughing or playing coming from back yards, there were no pool splashes to be heard. It was dead calm, dead quiet.

Or, sometimes, I just choose to write about something totally different. My greyhound has disc problems in his neck that may require surgery – I have a disc problem in my lower back. Might have a blog entry there comparing the two of us. Who knows?

Why do most people write blogs? Some write to use it as their journal, others because they have a passion for a topic.

If this blog can get some interest in health issues, great. If it can help me get some more work as a medical/health writer, great. If it’s just something that I enjoy doing for as long as I feel like doing, that’s great too. And if you enjoy reading these, just let me know. Then I don’t feel like I’m whistling in the dark in an empty room. Although I can’t whistle. Never could. Tried many times…

News for Today:
Use of hip protector does not reduce risk of hip fracture for nursing home residents
New diabetes report documents devastating effects in New York City
Success rates for prostate cancer depend on experience of surgeon
Additional mammogram readers improve breast cancer detection
Three Contraceptive Implants Prevent Pregnancy Equally Well