While a common recommendation for would-be authors is, “Write what you know about,” the writing journey of Pamela Rasheed, MSN, RN, who specializes in infertility counseling demonstrates that you should also write what you care about. A friend’s advice to choose to write about women’s and couples’ struggles to have children resulted in Barren: The Inside World of Infertility.

Pam came from Guyana as an immigrant, in her very early twenties, alone, and having to navigate the complexities of living in a big city. Pam arrived needing to get established, find a place to live, get a job, all on her own with a couple of children. We met through a course that I taught on teaching people how to write books.

Pam thought about this book morning, noon, and night, about how to shape this book. She had the clinical background that added credibility to the book.

Nurses can be very effective if they would incorporate a holistic approach into the care of patients with infertility. And that was a reason why she thought, she needed to shed light on these hidden costs that these patients carry as a bigger burden, sometimes. How are we going to pay the mortgage but then afford the medications, which are very expensive?

How did the women in the book dealt with their difficulties? How did they get through? And Pam realized this book is not only for the medical professionals, it's also for patients who are going through this.

• When is it a sound idea to give up one book idea and take on another?

• How can you closely define the audience for your book?

• In deciding to interview people, how do you select them?

• How can asking the right questions to yourself about your subject lead to useful organization of the material?

• Why is passion for your subject so vital?

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