Writing

Hospice Nurse Julie, as she is known on TikTok, didn’t start out trying to be a social media star. Julie McFadden, RN, BSN, told Medscape Medical News she was just trying to normalize death and dying, taking the fear out an often-taboo subject, particularly in life’s last moments. The result, however, has put her in the spotlight. Six months ago, McFadden started posting… Read More »Life at the Deathbed: Hospice Nurse Uses TikTok to Teach About Dying

More than two decades ago I began the path to becoming an author, using my knowledge as a journalist to create a story that began with facts and developed into a novel. I took a break from full-time newspaper writing to raise my two young children and write a book based on cassette tapes my grandfather left about his life,… Read More »Career Transition: From Journalist to Author

Roni Robbins shares why her Dad is the best, coolest or funniest in town. Steve Kayne – Asheville, N.C. My dad is cool in a nontraditional way. How many Long Island Jewish girls have a father who’s a blacksmith? He started in our Hauppauge, N.Y., garage pounding iron into artwork, decorative pieces, fireplace tools and hardware. And he still crafts… Read More »2021 Father’s Day Tribute: Steve Kayne

‘The Takeaway Men’ brings Holocaust and 1950s New York City to life with powerful relevance to those who grew up in a similar environment post World War II. Anyone who grew up in New York in the shadow of the Holocaust with immigrant relatives will most likely feel the power of the newly published “The Takeaway Men.” That includes me,… Read More »When Historical Fiction Meets Reality

July was a tough month for our dog Scout. It started when we went away for the July 4 weekend to a family wedding in New York that twice had been rescheduled because of the pandemic. To find the right petsitter, I put out feelers on Nextdoor and screened candidates until I found what seemed a perfect fit. Then we… Read More »My Dog Has a GPS