A Quick Thanks for a Great 2024, and Some Ideas for 2025
This year has been a banner year for me on Medium. My audience has increased significantly, crossing the 2000 mark on followers a few days ago. And the number of email subscribers has continued to grow month after month. Because of this growth, Medium went from something that provided me with coffee money to something that provided me with gas money.
And you all have made it possible. For that, I am thankful. I am honored that you let my writing, my experiences, my thoughts and opinions, all into your lives whenever I hit the “publish” button. What I write is not written lightly or in haste. I start with an idea based on something I read or hear, or something that reminds me of an experience in my past. Then I explore different ways to approach it. If I need to do research, I do research.
For some of my more complicated stories, I did several hours of reading on the subject. That is the case with the story on abortion:
The one on miscarriage was difficult to write because of the feelings involved in remembering my mother’s story, and in reading the many personal stories as I did the research:
Some stories were fun to write, like my anecdotes on medical mysteries from the time I was a lab tech:
And this one:
When I find time to write depends on many factors. Sometimes I write on the train to and from work. Sometimes I write in the evenings when my wife works overnights and my kid is asleep. Other times, I write while my wife and kid are out and about. And then there are times when I write as we all sit in the family room and watch television.
Years and years of writing on keyboards have allowed me to write close to 90 words per minute, with few errors. (Thanks to those of you who’ve caught the typos, by the way.) So I just go to work once an idea is in place, and I’ve sketched out how I’m going to write something.
Now, some of you may have caught differences in the style of the writing. Some has more humor. Some has less technical jargon. Some writing has led people to think it is AI-written. (Only some of the images are AI-generated. The rest is all me, baby.) I do this on purpose because I’m always exploring different writing styles and techniques. This year, I dabbled in writing satire:
I wrote some fiction:
But I never strayed too far from what I know best: infectious disease epidemiology and public health.
The Coming Year
I have some ideas for the coming year, like opening more of my writing to the public by not using the paywall as much. Maybe I’ll stick to the paywall for articles that take me a long time to write. One thing I’ve noticed is that quality counts more than quantity in picking up reads/views, and on earning followers.
I’m also planning to partner with publications and work with their editors to improve my writing. From fiction to autobiographical writing, there is more to come. There is one big project I plan to reveal in the first quarter of 2025. And there is, of course, the continuation of the story I started with the “prequels” to “The Epi Chronicles.”
This is all dependent on what happens in 2025. If work gets crazy, the writing will have to wait. If a new pandemic happens (looking at the avian flu spread), the writing will have to wait. And if my friends of family need me, the writing will have to wait.
But there will be time to write. And I thank you for making time to read.
If you like what I wrote, buy me a coffee? https://ko-fi.com/epiren
René F. Najera, MPH, DrPH, is a doctor of public health, an epidemiologist, amateur photographer, running/cycling/swimming enthusiast, husband, father, and “all-around great guy.” You can find him working as the director of a center for public health, grabbing tacos at your local taquería, teaching at a university in northern Virginia where he is an adjunct in the Department of Global and Community Health, or teaching at the best school of public health in the world where he is an associate in the Department of Epidemiology. All opinions in this blog post are those of Dr. Najera, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of his employers, friends, family, or acquaintances.
