The Honest Apothecary blog was born over 20 years ago. It grew out of my twin loves for pharmacy and writing. For years I wrote on topics with a medicinal flavor to both prescription takers and prescription dispensers. I had fun. I interviewed pharmacy-focused vendors and pharmacist entrepreneurs. I mused out loud over whatever pharmacy-news the media was meditating on that moment. I shared tips and tricks with patients to help them navigate the often foggy field of pharmacy. But over time, like clothes from when I was a kid, I began to outgrow the blog. To switch metaphors, I was like a butterfly that could no longer be contained in a cocoon. I needed to fly.
For me, “flying” first involved launching my writing activities beyond the safe harbors of my personal blog. Like Nemo, I wanted out of the narrow, albeit comfortable, confines of the coral reef. I wanted to take my pen to the open sea. Anchors aweigh! Fair winds and following seas! And so, I set sail.
I ventured off into new territory. For example, there was a “managing your medicine'” column I began in a local newspaper. Then some editors reached out and I ended up doing several pieces in a few online pharmacy journals. I even went undercover and did some ghost writing. Next, a pharmacy association had me writing for their newsletter. And so I soared here and there, scattering words like raindrops in Seattle.
Eventually, even writing about pharmacy wasn’t enough. My life was evolving and transforming. Leadership, for example, was a topic that I was fascinated with, and I wanted to write about it. Also, my family was growing, My faith was deepening and my responsibilities at our church were enlarging. My personal hobbies continued to evolve. My desire to write about ALL these things was expanding, bursting the buttons off my pharmacist smock. My writing couldn’t be contained; like those wobbly Tessalon Perles, spilling over the edges of counting tray onto the floor. I needed a writing outlet for the rest of my life, beyond the borders of my beloved profession.
I tried starting a few other blogs devoted to the various topics of interest that I had, but maintaining all that became tiresome. I was spending more time managing WordPress themes than actually writing about the themes I loved! I resorted to writing more posts on social media platforms like Facebook, X, and LinkedIn. My writing life felt fractured, broken, like a thousand-piece puzzle dumped onto the dining room table and many pieces flying all over the floor.
I needed to reign in my writing. But how? Then it dawned on me: Could The Honest Apothecary…the blog where it all began…possibly become my new home in which everything I loved to write about could live? Might there be an audience who, while interested in topics like technicians and tetracycline, might also want to toy around with other branches of thought, from building tacos to building trust. Wouldn’t that be far more “honest” than fracturing my writing across multiple channels, platforms and blogs?
And just like that, I hit the reset button on my writing life.
The Honest Apothecary was Born Again.
Welcome, friends, to The Honest Apothecary…Reimagined!
