I am sitting at my desk on a beautiful spring

day, writing my first Perspectives column as the

new editor of Lifelines. As my fingers move

across the keyboard, I feel the need to stop,

take a deep breath and then leap around the

room in a dance of joy. I still cannot believe it;

they picked me!

This really should have come as no surprise.

In my teen years, I spent many hours pouring

out my heart and angst-filled soul into pages of

poetry meant only for my eyes. I always

received top marks for my creative writing

projects in school and was seen as the “book-

ish” one in my family. In South Africa, where I

grew up, the instructors at nursing school didn’t

regard creativity or writing skills as important.

As a student in an apprenticeship training pro-

gram, we learned by rote and spent 95 percent

of our time on the wards, working 12-hour

days in the belief that we were making a real

contribution to the welfare of our patients

despite our limited knowledge. I subscribed to

an American nursing journal during my train-

ing and, after reading the interesting articles,

would spend hours gazing with longing at the

advertisements for special shoes and uniforms,

which were absolutely forbidden to us. I did a

postgraduate specialty in midwifery and was

too busy delivering babies and helping new

moms to reflect in writing on what I was

doing.

Five years later, I found myself a new immi-

grant to Canada. I took the national licensing

examinations and prepared myself for a career

in maternal-child nursing in one of the local

hospitals. The image of those shoes and uni-

August | September 2003 AWHONN Lifelines 297

A New

Anne Katz, RN, PhD, is

editor of AWHONN

Lifelines and an assis-

tant professor in the

faculty of nursing at the

University of Manitoba

in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Write to her at

Lifelines@awhonn.org.

i

Perspective

I challenge you to use

Lifelines as a means

to have your stories

heard.

forms passed through my brain as I pulled on a

pair of wrinkled scrubs on my first day on the

labor and delivery unit. Working there as a staff

nurse was very different from my experience as

a midwife, and I missed that independent role.

Within months, I was searching for something

different and found myself working as the pri-

mary care nurse in a community clinic that

specialized in the prevention, care and treat-

ment of people living with HIV/AIDS. At the

same time, I was encouraged by a friend to join

her in a health assessment class for registered

nurses who were studying for a baccalaureate

degree. Off we went on a freezing winter’s

night, and I realized that I had found my

niche—the life of a student was the life for me!

I loved everything that went into the writing of

a paper. From thinking about what I wanted to

say, the endless photocopying of articles (long

before the days of online publication!), and

then the moment when the first words

appeared on the computer’s monitor. I pub-

lished two articles in professional journals

before I completed my undergraduate degree

and I was hooked!

Graduate school seemed the most natural

next step, and I resigned from my position so

that I could immerse myself in my studies, not

to mention complete a master’s degree before

menopause. For someone who loves writing,

graduate school was the perfect place, and I

photocopied and printed and extrapolated on

many topics for the next two years, all the

while publishing as I went along. I published

reviews and my research findings, and went

back to my thesis and found another article in

there and yet another manuscript was pub-

lished. I was having so much fun that I just

could not stop, and I went straight into a doc-

toral program. By then, I needed to recoup

some of my lost earnings, and I accepted a

position as a clinical nurse specialist in high-

risk obstetrics at the same hospital where I had

first worked in labor and delivery. This was a

wonderful opportunity for me because think-

ing and writing were part of the job and I con-

tinued to find topics to write about.

One of the first things that I did when I

took that job was join AWHONN. That was a

wise decision because very soon JOGNN start-

ed to arrive in my mailbox (this was before the

inception of Lifelines). One day, I saw a call for

reviewers and so I sent off my application. And

the next thing I knew, large white envelopes

were being sent to me and I had the honor to

review and comment on the writing of others.

I learned so much from this experience, about

the research my fellow nurses were doing and

the innovative clinical solutions that they were

creating. After a few years of being part of the

review panel for JOGNN, I received a letter

inviting me to be a part of the editorial adviso-

ry board. This was an exciting offer, and I flew

to the meeting in Seattle with such pride. I

learned so much during my two years on the

board, and I am grateful to Karen Haller,

Nancy Lowe, Maggie Kearney and Lillian Biller

for sharing their knowledge and for role-

modeling for me what an editor does.

The late 1990s were an exciting time to be a

master’s-prepared nurse in Manitoba. The gov-

ernment had decided that all nursing educa-

tion would be under the jurisdiction of the

University of Manitoba, and a large hiring ini-

tiative was under way. This was my chance to

change the world by teaching the

nurses of the next generation, and

once again I applied for a new posi-

tion and was accepted. The first three

years were

busy ones

for me.

Every week

meant new

lectures to

write, papers to

grade, exams and

tests to mark, and

my doctoral

research to plan

and actualize. A

wise person had

told me that I

should try to pub-

lish as I went

through my doctoral

program, that at the end

of those long hard four

years, one is often so sick

and tired of the topic that the

tendency is to leave the task of

writing and then months go by and nothing

298 AWHONN Lifelines Volume 7 Issue 4

gets written. I heeded that advice and

submitted articles from papers in

almost all the courses I took. And then

I was finished and I had that parch-

ment in my hand and a new sign out-

side my office that said to the world

that I was now Dr. Anne Katz.

I had thought that once I had

completed my PhD program I might

take a break and acquaint myself with

the conventions of a “normal” life:

friends, dinners, movies, shopping. But

there were new challenges ahead. A

tenure-track position seemed the logi-

cal next step in terms of my academic

career. I completed an intensive course

in sex therapy, began some new

research in the area of sexuality and

started writing on that topic. Local

community groups made requests of

my time: “Could I work with a teen

phone line that was starting an inter-

active website which needed an expert

to answer questions about sexuality?”

“Would I do a workshop for frontline

workers in community

pro-

grams for disad-

vantaged children?” “What

about sexuality counseling for individ-

uals with cancer and their partners?”

The answer to all of these and more

was a resounding “Yes, of course, I’d be

delighted!”

And then one fateful day I opened

my copy of Lifelines and saw the adver-

tisement for a new editor. I gnashed

my teeth, lost some sleep, and talked to

valued friends and colleagues. My

heart said “yes” but my head was filled

with doubts: What could a former

South African, now-Canadian bring to

the position that was different than the

many other well-qualified applicants? I

still don’t know the answer to that

question, but I do know that the appli-

cation and interview process was

exhaustive but comprehensive, fair and

entirely professional and everything

that you would expect from the pre-

miere nursing organization in North

America.

The first person to call me on the

day that I learned my application was

successful was Lifelines Editor Barbara

Peterson Sinclair, whose warmth and

grace have inspired me. Lifelines’ suc-

cess is a testament to the energy,

knowledge and expertise of Barbara,

and I want to thank her for handing

me this jewel. Soon after that, I

started talking to Carolyn Davis

Cockey, our energetic and

resourceful executive editor

who has been so patient

with my never-ending ques-

tions and requests for clari-

fication. By the time this

edition of Lifelines goes to

print, I will have met the

members of the Editorial

Advisory Board and will have

begun to call on their wide

expertise and experience to

assist me as we shepherd this

journal into the future. As you

hold this edition in your hands,

the AWHONN 2003 Convention will

have concluded and plans will be

under way to travel to Tampa in 2004

for our next meeting. Read all about

this exciting event in this edition in the

AWHONN “News and Views” column.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time in

Milwaukee, and perhaps I had the

opportunity to meet you at the

Lifelines booth or perhaps at the work-

shop I presented on reviewing for

Lifelines and other scholarly publica-

tions.

Writing for publication is an adven-

ture. From the beginnings of an idea

to the searching for and reading of the

existing literature, you will learn and

grow as you prepare the manuscript.

Your heart will beat a little faster the

day you mail the big envelope with

your work enclosed. And then one day,

hopefully not too long after that, you

will receive a response from the jour-

nal. Perhaps you will have to make

some minor revisions, or maybe you

will have to add or subtract substan-

tive parts. The sting of an outright

rejection is something that all pub-

lished authors have felt; the key is to

take a deep breath, deal with the

reviewers’ comments and then send it

somewhere else. Every well-written

manuscript has a home somewhere!

So now you know my story, and I

challenge you to use Lifelines as a

means to have your stories heard.

Consider writing and submitting an

article. Our “Reflections on Women’s

Health” column allows authors to talk

about important personal issues and

experiences and share with others the

common threads that bind us as nurs-

es and women. You have an opportu-

nity to submit an article for publica-

tion in “Commentary,” where you can

speak out on any topic that you are

passionate about and share your opin-

ion with the 23,000 nurses who read

this journal every two months.

Become involved by joining our

Review Pool. You will have the invalu-

able opportunity of being a part of the

fast-paced world of publishing. You

will learn much as you share your clin-

ical expertise with the editorial staff.

Consider this a personal invitation

from me, the new editor of Lifelines, to

you the reader of this exciting, innova-

tive journal.

August | September 2003 AWHONN Lifelines 299