Nurse Florence: Why Should We Avoid Illegal Drugs? addresses a topic many parents find hard to discuss with their children and teaches kids not only what to avoid but also healthy coping strategies for stress and anxiety. What inspired you to write on this topic?

At my day job at an inpatient psychiatric hospital as a floor nurse, we regularly get patients that deal with mental health issues linked to illegal drug use.  We need to significantly lower the usage of these drugs to help create a healthier society.  Illegal drug use not only affects a person’s personal finances, but usually also disrupts many relationships in their life.  I included some healthy coping skills in the book because we didn’t want to just say “Don’t do this”, but we also wanted to say “Try this instead.”

Are there any books or authors that inspired you to become a writer?

Honestly, my writing started with poetry in high school which was inspired by Jim Morrison.  Writing books for kids was an evolution in my skills.

What do the words “literary success” mean to you? How do you picture it?

Literary success regarding the Nurse Florence project would be experiencing a society in the future where the mass public is well-educated on the workings of their body that most everyone can have an intelligent conversation with their medical provider about their health conditions so that it is not just a one way street of information.  I would like to see the world largely free of preventable diseases so that we live longer lives with high quality.  I’d like to see a world where health care dollars in every society are spent on preventing diseases instead of needing to deal with managing diseases.

What do your plans for future projects include?

Our next book series titled Nurse Dorothea will launch next year.  It will be entirely focused on mental health.  It is in honor of Dorothea Dix, who advocated for the mentally ill in the early 1800s.  Our web address for the series will be www.nursedorothea.com, and will be active by next summer.

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