Meet a Member: Lana Christian

Their are many types of professional communicators. Some write for newspapers and magazines. Others write for blogs and for technical publications. NFPW member Lana Christian shares her writing talent writing about healthcare and life sciences. Many times she is writing for peer-reviewed publications. Just like other communicators, her talent is in telling a story so her audience can understand. Meet another one of the unique and unbelievable NFPW members, Lana Christian.

Name: Lana Christian

City and State:  I currently live in Fairview, Oregon, and previously lived in Indiana.

Affiliate and any leadership positions:

Indiana and Oregon affiliates; no leadership positions

Years a member of NFPW: 7+

Lana Christian

In a couple of paragraphs, tell us a little about you.

I write for the healthcare and life science industries, dba CreateWrite® Inc. Much of my writing is full-length articles for peer-reviewed medical journals; but I also write newsletter articles for hospitals, patient education materials, continuing medical education programs, training materials for pharmaceutical reps, and DVD scripts (e.g., “here’s how a stent works”).  Seasonally, I also write grant applications for researchers and medical textbook chapters.

Much of that may sound far afield from what many NFPW participants write each day, but the common ground is that a medical writer still has to be good at “telling the story.” Science standing on its own does not garner grant funding or a journal editor’s green-lighting a manuscript. So the work I do is a combination of science and art. Although scouring medical databases to find appropriate references and interviewing MDs or PhDs are usually part of my work, I always need to write compelling content that tells readers why they should take notice of a researcher’s findings or a doctor’s cutting-edge procedure.

Any career advice you would give?

(1) Never stop honing your craft.

(2) If you admire a writer or an article, ask yourself why. Deconstruct it and learn from it.

(3) Be conscious of how you write what you write, even if it’s “just” a personal blog. Strive to make it something you can be just as proud of as a headliner article in the publication of your dreams.

(4) Learn how to be an ace at asking the right questions during interviews. If you excel at that, then the article will almost write itself.

(5) Everyone can be a better writer next year than they are this year if they keep actively practicing the art of writing.

Which talent would you most like to have?

True entrepreneurship. I have great ideas for several companies but am not sure how to put feet to them.

If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

In the mountains, away from big cities. I do live in a mountainous area right now, and I’m in a fairly small town; but I’d like to move out of town if I could afford to buy acreage in the country.

What book are you reading?

I just finished Hattie Kauffman’s Falling Into Place: A Memoir of Overcoming.

What would people be surprised to learn about you?

I wrote my first book when I was 11. (It chronicled my first summer at church camp.) In more recent years, I’ve coauthored or authored numerous healthcare books, as well as a business book, Proofread Like a Pro. One of my biggest accomplishments when I was still working in the hospital environment was to create a career development program for employees who wanted to move up within the system. Called Career Quest®, it became an integral part of that organization’s culture. After I left the hospital setting, Career Quest® was renamed, repackaged and marketed externally. When I’m not writing, I devote time to my passions of hiking, cooking, working with the homeless and international missions.

Why is your affiliate and NFPW important to you?

NFPW helps me stay connected to a side of journalism that keeps my skills honed for newspaper articles and hospital newsletters. That type of journalism requires a bit different mindset and some degree of different writing skills than the research-heavy writing I often do. I get great satisfaction from both kinds of writing.

Way to follow you on a website, twitter, Facebook, etc.

Website (includes a Contact page) http://createwriteinc.com. I also have LinkedIn profile for my business.

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Granger helps journalism students excel during 26 year career at Indiana high school

She was the 2014 Communicator of Achievement this year for the Woman’s Press Club of Indiana. She won first place in the faculty advisor for high school or college student publications category in the NFPW communications contest. Her friends proudly tell about the honors her student publication has earned during the 26 years she has been the student newspaper advisor. Now, she is challenging others to join her in reading about the different “states” over the next year. Meet another unique and unbelievable NFPW member, Elizabeth Granger, who excels in all she does.

Name: Elizabeth Granger

Elizabeth Granger

City and State: Fishers, Ind.

Affiliate and any leadership positions: Woman’s Press Club of Indiana Past president, past vice-president, current high school competition coordinator, current meeting coordinator

Years a member of NFPW: since 1999

Tell us a little about you.

I teach journalism and English in a minority high school of 2,400 students in Indianapolis. I’ve advised the student newspaper for 26 years and the yearbook for two.  The paper has a long list of honors over the years – just last week we were awarded another Hoosier Star (best in the state).  I am thinking about retiring in June 2015. I am open to all kinds of adventures in the next phase of my life.

I’d taught years earlier, too, right out of college. Then I was a stay-at-home mom. Returned to teaching part-time, as a GED instructor, when the kids were about 4 and 7. Made my way to a professional daily newspaper for a while – I was a reporter and then editor. Returned to teaching full-time in 1989. I had helped create a travel page for the paper, so I’ve been able to freelance as a travel writer ever since.

I’m married to Fred. I have two grown children, he has four. He also has 10 grandchildren.

Any career advice you would give?

Follow your heart. Work hard. Laugh often. Learn every day.  Appreciate those who have helped you along the way, and let them know you appreciate them. Then turn around and help others.

Which talent would you most like to have?

I wish I could sing.

If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

High school publications adviser Elizabeth Granger and sports editor Alex Kryah look at ways to revamp the sports section of Lawrence Central High School’s Cub Reporter newspaper. Kryah is now studying journalism at Bradley University in Peoria, Ill. He claims the high point of his high school journalism career was working Super Bowl’s Media Day when the game was in Indianapolis. When Kryah queried Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, Brady replied, “Good question, kid.”

I love being an American, so I can’t imagine being anywhere else for an extended period of time. Actually, I’d love to live all over the U.S., perhaps 6-12 months in each place. My top picks? I grew up in Michigan and Minnesota, and the Call of My North is still strong, so I’d definitely pick those two. (A winter on Mackinac Island is in my dreams.) I’d also choose Maine, Montana, Alaska, Washington, D.C., parts of Texas, and of course Hawaii.

And certainly extended visits to Canada, Ireland, Japan, Russia, Switzerland, Scandinavia. I found the villages of all four of my grandparents in Croatia in 2010 – a return visit with my children accompanying me would be marvelous.

What book are you reading?

Two right now – Oprah Winfrey’s “What I Know For Sure” and Steve Hamilton’s “Die a Stranger.”

“What I Know For Sure” has me contemplating life, that’s for sure. Oprah’s put truth after truth after truth into words that have to be meaningful to every reader. It’s a fast read, but don’t read it fast. Stop often and savor the thoughts. It should be on everyone’s Christmas wish list.

I just read the section titled “Gratitude.” I think I’ll follow Oprah’s lead and make a list every night of five things I found myself grateful for that day.

Last year I marked my birthday by deciding to write and mail a handwritten note every week. I confess I didn’t quite follow the plan; some weeks I wrote nothing, but in other weeks I sent off several missives. My birthday was last week (Oct. 22); after one year, my note count is more than 52. I think I’ll continue for another year.

“Die a Stranger” is quite different. It’s Hamilton’s ninth in his Alex McKnight series. I got caught by the first, “A Cold Day in Paradise,” because it’s set in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula where I was born, where I went to college, where my daughter went to college, where my son-in-law is from, and where I sometimes love to be. The books are fun mystery reads about a former police officer turned reluctant private eye – you can’t help but love McKnight.

Hey, who all wants to join me in reading every “state” next year? It’s an activity that some teachers do with their students – “traveling” across the U.S. by reading a book that’s set in each of the states. Our variation would have each of us picking our own choices and then suggesting them to others. I can start now – for Michigan, get any of the Alex McKnight novels by Steve Hamilton. So, who’s in? Let me know? I’m at wayfarer2@att.net.

What would people be surprised to learn about you?

Depends on the people, I’d say. Those who know me from a particular phase in my life sometimes don’t know a different me. For example, those who know me as a teacher or travel writer may not know the “Suzie Homemaker” side of me with its sewing and knitting and canning and baking. And vice versa. I remember volunteering with a crafts group one evening each week, until it was time for school to start. When I told the group I wouldn’t be returning the next Monday night because my GED class was starting then, one of the other volunteers asked, “You don’t have a high school diploma?” She had no idea I was the teacher.

Why is your affiliate and NFPW important to you?

I joined WPCI for the professional support I believed I could get. That I did, but the personal support from the members is over the top. I’m honored to be among their good friends.

Way to follow you on a website, twitter, Facebook, etc.

On Facebook, find Elizabeth Granger. For Twitter, @ejgranger.

Indiana journalist Rita Kohn shares passon for books, plays and TV documentaries

Journalist Rita Kohn

She is a journalist for all media. She has to her credit 20 books, more than 25 produced plays, five television documentaries, and thousands of articles for print and on-line publications. After I was elected NFPW president last year, she was one of the first to send me a note of congratulations and then was gracious enough to share recent writing samples with me. She is modest (suggesting someone else deserved to be highlighted instead) but as you can see, she is another unique, unbelievable NFPW member. Meet outstanding journalist Rita Kohn.

Name: Rita Kohn

City and State: Indianapolis, IN

Affiliate and any leadership positions: Woman’s Press Club of Indiana and last year’s Indiana Communicator of Achievement

Years a member of NFPW: going on 4

Tell us a little about you.

I’m a full time writer [re-writer–since I tend to ‘edit’ myself a lot] in diverse fields of journalism, playwrighting, non-fiction, fiction, poetry, picture books, ballet librettos, documentary-making, exhibit-creating; editing, theatre directing. I spent many years as a teacher and writer, before taking the plunge into supporting myself as a writer.

Any career advice you would give? Be an interesting person with an inquisitive nature so you always want to learn something new/fresh so you’ll have lots to write about and never suffer bloc.

Which talent would you most like to have?

Green thumb to have a flourishing foodways and flower gardens.

If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

Thinking of moving all these books keeps me content to be where I am. I like to travel so it’s nice to be where there’s a hub of highways, flyways, byways

What book are you reading?

“The Richmond Group Artists” by Shaun Thomas Dingwerth [Indiana University Press, 2014]; an engaging ‘untold story’ of the overlooked 19th Century Indiana artists whose mark on the art of plein air/landscape and studio painting needs a ‘shout out.’

What would people be surprised to learn about you?

I write a weekly craft beer column and have published two books about  craft beer: ‘True Brew: A Guide to Craft Beer in Indiana” [Indiana University Press, 2010]; and “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Beer Tasting” [Alpha Books, 2013]. I’m working on a third along with books in other fields of interest.

Why is your affiliate and NFPW important to you?

WPCI membership brings with it delightful associations across a wide spectrum; NFPW brings attention to the importance of all points of view in the various fields of journalism–the feminine gender adds depth and breadth to the fifth estate–let’s make that grow.

Way to follow you on a website, twitter, Facebook, etc.

I’m a terribly derelict  social media selfie– but you can find my journalism at nuvo.net and exploredance.com; just google Rita Kohn for titles of books published, plays produced.

Garmel’s career combines, tennis, government and arts journalism

She is a regular attendee at NFPW conferences, has won more than 100 writing awards, served as chair of the Woman’s Press Club of Indiana’s 100th anniversary celebration  and is always a dependable and enthusiastic member of both organizations. Meet unique and amazing NFPW member Marion Garmel.

Name: Marion Simon Garmel

Marion Garmel

City and State: Indianapolis, Indiana

Affiliate and any leadership positions:

Woman’s Press Club of Indiana, secretary, COA director. 2005-present. Woman’s Press Club of Indiana COA nominee, 1985 and 2012.

Years a member of NFPW: 40 (joined in 1974)

In a couple of paragraphs tell us a little about you:

I was born in El Paso, TX, on the Mexican border, and did not grow up bilingual, much to my regret. I graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a bachelor of journalism degree and spent three years after college working for the U.S. National Student Association in Philadelphia and the World Assembly of Youth in Paris and Brussels. It was then that I got to meet Eleanor Roosevelt, Allard K. Lowenstein and a host of people who became important in the passing of the torch to a new generation in the 1960s.

I spent all of the ‘60s working for The National Observer newspaper, the weekly family paper published by Dow Jones and based in a suburb of Washington, DC. I moved to Indianapolis with my husband in 1970, got a job on the Indianapolis News, and have been an arts journalist ever since, first on The News, which merged with the Star, which killed the News, which was eaten by Gannett. My beat was the “Culture Corner,” covering visual art, theater, dance books and television and editing a weekly arts and leisure section, until retiring in 2002 as theater critic of Indianapolis Star.

Marion Garmel, left, with 62-year WPCI member Ruth Chin.

Any career advice you would give?

Go with the wind. You never know what life will bring and most people just fall into the careers that suit them. Take advantage of every opportunity that comes your way. The only regrets I have are the things I did not do.

Which talent would you most like to have?

I’d love to be able to sing but I am musically deaf as a doorknob. Which is why I could never be a classical music critic. Rock? That’s another thing.

If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

The desert Southwest. It’s an acquired taste but it is wonderful.

What book are you reading? My siblings and I are reading and discussing the Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) every day by e-mail. These are the views of Jewish sages over the centuries in questions of ethics and personal relationships. Great discussions.

What would people be surprised to learn about you?

That before I got involved in student politics and newspapers I was a serious tennis player and recently found a trophy for being part of the runner-up doubles part team in the New Mexico State Open, girls 18 and under, in 1954.

Why is your affiliate and NFPW important to you?

Are you kidding? This is a wonderful group of women (and now men) who are curious, intelligent, hard-working, clever, and they travel. Thanks to NFPW I’ve been to the Soviet Union (during détente), on the Lewis and Clark Trail in Oregon and Washington, and on a raft going down the Snake River at the foot of the Tetons. In a word, “opportunity.”

Way to follow me:

Marion Garmel on Facebook and LinkedIn

@mariongarmel on Twitter, no website.