We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful M. E. Roche. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with M. E. below.

M. E. , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Too often the media represents innovation as something magical that only high-flying tech billionaires and upstarts engage in – but the truth is almost every business owner has to regularly innovate in small and big ways in order for their businesses to survive and thrive. Can you share a story that highlights something innovative you’ve done over the course of your career?

As a nurse, I believe I’ve had many opportunities to try new things along the path of my career. That’s one of the wonderful things about nursing–the many directions one can go. When I first finished school, I went to live and work in two pediatric hospitals in Ireland, and I did so on and off for five years. Other opportunities included travel and working across this country, working as a union organizer, developing a care plan system to be tested for computers, managing the nursing computer systems in two hospitals when health care first ventured into computerization, and finally, my writing.

When I discovered there had been no books written since the 1950s to give young readers an idea of what nursing was like today, I wrote my first three novels for those young readers, using the vehicle of a mystery that had been used in the earlier books. Because I have always loved mysteries, I’ve continued to write for an adult audience while maintaining my main characters from the earlier works. In these novels, I continue to emphasize the fact that nurses today have many options as to how they structure their lives, including expanding into the realm of law enforcement.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

While the product of a Midwest upbringing, I have lived and worked on both coasts as well as in Ireland. As a registered nurse, I have had the opportunity to work in many facets of nursing, from pediatrics to geriatrics, from labor representation to administration, including the implementation of hospital information systems for nursing.

While officially retired, I continue to volunteer at a neighborhood clinic where I live in southwest Florida. When I discovered that nothing had been written about nursing for young readers since the 1950s and 60s, my first novels were written to address this deficit—to show young readers something of what nursing is like today. As I got to know my characters and their involvement with law enforcement, I decided I needed more direct experience, so I connected with my local sheriff’s department and began volunteering with the coroner’s division.

My adult novels have been a product of that experience, giving Nora Brady the somewhat enviable opportunity to merge her talents for that of nursing with those of law enforcement.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A lesson to be unlearned: For me–and probably for many in my generation–there was the emphasis on having an education that would provide a job that would support me for my working life. It wasn’t until a friend of mine, who was an artist, left for summer vacation, leaving me with her paint box and easel, that I happened to explore this creative aspect of myself. When my friend didn’t return that year, I eventually began experimenting and learned I wasn’t meant to be an artist. I did, however, learn that I loved the process, if not the outcome. I learned that I could be satisfied with the results, which led me to painting murals–sometimes in places where I probably shouldn’t have. I came to realize that maybe there were other creative avenues to be explored, that just because art wasn’t something fostered in my family didn’t mean it wasn’t a possibility. Hence, my writing. From this, I’ve learned that art is as much a discipline as any other occupation. There is as much to learning technique as there is to having some innate talent…it is work!

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

One of the most rewarding aspects for me of being a nurse was taking a somewhat complex diagnosis or treatment and providing a simplified explanation to a patient and family. Watching their faces when that “aha” or “lightbulb” moment appeared–when I saw them begin to understand and hopefully were no longer afraid…or at least they felt better able to cope.

For me, with either my writing or painting, there is a struggle to put down in words or in paint something that I want to convey. That moment when everything coalesces is the most rewarding aspect of being creative. That is the moment when I sit back in my chair and smile.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.meroche.com/
• Instagram: meroche_author
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/norabrady2021