For much of my life I was a practicing pharmacist. Each day I would draw on my
professional experience and use every tidbit of education to make appropriate clinical decisions. Like so many other professionals, I was doing the work I was trained to do and loved every minute of it. I was also secure in the knowledge that I was very good at what I did and was making a difference in people’s lives.
So why did it rub me wrong when others would jokingly ask, “Practicing, huh? When do you think you’ll get it right?”
I laughed at the jokes but inwardly seethed. How could someone mock that by 
which I defined myself? One day, though, I took a mental step back to analyze that old joke. Was I any different in how I managed my career than the physician to whom I trusted my health? After all, he “practiced” medicine. Absurdly, I wondered, “Does he practice on me, maybe to get it right later with another patient?”
One summer in my youth I practiced getting better at baseball. I was never very good, but that summer I managed to hit consistently two out of three pitches. Was my doctor getting it right two-thirds of the time? Was I one of the lucky two?
That kind of success rate in my pharmacy practice wouldn’t win me any fans. If I managed to get the right drug to the right person only two out of three times, all I’d gain would be stack of lawsuits.
Why are many health professions called a PRACTICE? If I went to my financial advisor and asked if he were practicing his profession, he’d probably say, “I do better than practice. I try to get it right every time.”
Is his profession any more exacting than pharmacy or medicine? He doesn’t always get my investments right. Sometimes we win and sometimes we lose, and then I take a tax loss. In pharmacy, however, when you lose, there’s no tax loss. The results are often life threatening.
Eventually, I decided that the beauty of PRACTICING your profession is to always get better at it. Most people are good at their jobs and mistakes happen only rarely. I might get upset if my financial advisor makes a less than perfect judgment about my investments, but at the end of the day life still goes on.
When I practiced pharmacy, it was intense stuff: clinical trials, intravenous therapies and life or death situations. If I had made less than perfect judgments regarding those therapies, there was the real possibility that someone would end up dead. There was no “Oops, I’ll do better next time.”
The wisdom in understanding why some professions are called PRACTICES and others are known as WORK or ART is this.
My work as a novelist is an expression of art; but if I don’t get the story right the
first time, it’s not a problem. No one dies; no one has a funeral (except maybe for one of my characters). I always get a “do-over.” Writers are lucky that way, except when the rewrites and edits go on and on—but that’s another whole blog.
The point is that it takes practice to be good enough at something to make a decent living at it. I’ve read that it takes 10,000 hours to really be good at something. I had a friend guest blog about that once (see here). It seems that 10,000 hours of “practice”—about five years if that’s all you’re doing—is what it takes to be really good at something.
So I guess we all practice our professions when we continue to work to get better at our jobs. I practiced pharmacy for a great many years and was very good at it, but I also practice my writing everyday now to get better.
The five-star reviews of my last two books tell me that I must be doing something right as an author.
In the end, as much as I liked pharmacy practice, I love writing even more. Whatever it is you want to accomplish, practice to be better than you were yesterday and you’ll wind up getting five-star reviews in whatever you do.
Thoughts? Comments? I’d love to hear them!
or any other substance abuse, but the effects can be just as unpleasant; and a 
that colors the world around you and everything you do. The primary result of a book hangover, however, is the inability to pick up another book. Starting to read another book can seem like a betrayal of either the author, the characters that you emotionally connected with so well, or both.
treatment of a very real, extremely devastating disease that ruins not only the lives of patients but the family and friends around them. The plot involves a person navigating the progression of early onset 
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mystery novel. The thrill of guessing “Who done it!” was the excitement that kept me, and many others, reading book after book.
isn’t expected to know about until the end. Mysteries are often more cerebral and are considered works of revelation. There’s more mental action than physical in a mystery. The primary action (or crime) has already occurred, so the element of suspense is not necessarily the main focus of the novel. The focus is in solving the puzzle.
for excitement. Thriller plots create a desire to confront extreme danger and defeat nasty villains. This differs from a mystery in that the reader is informed at some point early on who the villains are.
A mystery may have a degree of suspense, but the story progresses logically toward a resolution of the puzzle and this stimulates the mind. A thriller, on the other hand, stimulates the senses as well. The emotional rush of apprehension and exhilaration imbedded within the plot of a thriller drive the narrative at a constant, and at times a breakneck, pace. The SUSPENSE is heightened by the known threat of the villain and his/her unexpected actions.
Fortunately, that’s often the case.
therapy. Simple infections of the skin, urinary tract, ear and lungs are becoming increasingly 
million pounds are sold for use in food animals. 
Ask your doctor to prescribe an antibiotic only if it’s absolutely necessary. Inappropriate prescription use for simple coughs and colds are the number one problem area with antibiotic use. Medical professionals estimate that only one in five infections require antibiotics. The great majority of infections are due to viruses, not bacteria, and an antibiotic is ineffective against viruses.
also be a deadly one!
this became known as the “Hatter’s Disease.” This condition is believed to have inspired Lewis Carroll to introduce the Mad Hatter character in his work Alice in Wonderland.
wastes from factories, 
is rapidly absorbed through the skin and a lethal dose has been determined to be less than 0.1ml (about 1-2 drops). The chemical also is absorbed through most plastic and rubber glove materials, so extreme caution is required when handling dimethylmercury.
cysteine. After exposure via the skin, inhalation or ingestion, minute amounts of the chemical begin its slow kill process by affecting the immune system, altering the body’s enzyme systems and irrevocably damaging the nervous system.
Diane Kratz is a crime fiction writer who holds three degrees in social work and writes fascinating blogs about murderers and their motivations. She became interested specifically in female murderers and the types of weapons they use to kill, and contacted me for further information.
It’s a great way to download my five-star debut novel.
caustic and is classified as an acute poison that immediately begins to degrade tissue on contact. Although 
considered accidental and easily forgotten. But over a period of a few hours, the person’s skin would begin to dissolve, calcium metabolism would be disrupted and the person could die from a heart attack.
For instance, if this acid were added to someone’s eye drops or a nasal spray, the systemic damage would be accelerated due to the greater absorption rate of the acid into ocular tissue and mucous membranes.
that hydrofluoric acid is readily available in auto parts stores. It’s one of the main ingredients in aluminum wheel cleaners.
the search for new methods of murder. Today, I’d like to discuss a most interesting chemical—
with a little knowledge of chemistry can synthesize it by reacting sodium perchlorate with hydrochloric acid. Sodium perchlorate is used in standard laboratories to extract DNA; and hydrochloric acid, commonly known in the plumbing industry as muriatic acid, is used to clear clogged drains.
molecules when heated to cause fires and even explosions. When heated rapidly, such as with an incendiary device, perchloric acid reacts violently (often explosively) to oxidize paper, wood, metals such as copper and brass, and clothing. Clothing materials include nylon, polyester, cotton and wool.
Another interesting advantage of using perchloric acid as a weapon is its potential to destroy DNA evidence. Because of its strong acid capacity and its explosive oxidizing ability, this chemical will destroy any DNA evidence inadvertently left behind by the perpetrator.
Isolated as a psychoactive alkaloid that originates from the bark of a West African shrub called Tabernanthe iboga, 
effective treatment for heroin, cocaine and other opiate addictions. The drug is 
Most notably, drug withdrawal treatment clinics in Mexico abound. Additionally, such ibogaine treatment clinics are located in Canada, South Africa, the Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom as well as a handful of other countries.
the addiction to prevent treatment failure.
a great way to get high. The notion that all racing fuels contained only pure ethanol was a lethal mistake and became their death sentence.
The lethal dose of methanol is reported to vary from as little as 30mls (one ounce) to up to certain death if 100mls are consumed. With the consumption of a reasonably large quantity of methanol, a human being will rapidly progress to unconsciousness and death.
an effective method of murder since it is virtually colorless, and the look and odor is very faint and almost identical to ethanol. The dose is within the range that one might consume in a night of socializing and the initial symptoms are very similar to those experienced by someone who “has had a few too many” alcoholic beverages.
Prescription For Murder 