The Write Stuff, Part II: What Writers Know
Bottom Line Up Front
In part one, we established that editors determine what gets published, but writers determine what gets written. And those who write regularly, those whose names you see across EMS publications, leadership columns, and professional commentary, all have one thing in common: they do the work of turning lived experience into shared insight. They write when the idea arrives, when the lesson is fresh—and sometimes when it’s messy. They write whether the piece comes easily or fights them every inch of the way.
To better understand how those writers think and work, I asked several respected and published EMS voices where their ideas come from, how they draft, when they hold back, and how they stay motivated to contribute to the profession. Their answers carry themes worth sharing.
Ideas Come From Work Itself
Most seasoned writers don’t go looking for topics, they notice them and are probably living them.
Matt Zavadsky shared that his best ideas grow directly from experience: implementing new programs, advising EMS systems, watching the impact of policy decisions unfold in real time. When something in the work reveals a lesson, a pattern, or a shift—he pays attention. “If it surprised me,” he said, “it will probably resonate with someone else.”
Others find material in quieter ways. Ray Barishansky said ideas often come in conversation; something said in passing during a meeting, a late-night control room debate, or the kind of elevator (or in my own case, escalator!) insight that begins with, “You know what’s interesting about that…?” Some writers draw inspiration from a book they’re reading, a conference session that challenges their assumptions, or a recurring theme in calls or training.
The key isn’t where ideas come from, it’s noticing them when they arrive. Writers are not necessarily more insightful than anyone else. They are simply more attentive and more willing to capture what they notice.
Different Writers, Different Writing Styles
There is no single “correct” way to write. Yet writers tend to fall into a few recognizable rhythms.
Some are brain-dumpers. Mike Taigman laughed when describing his process: “I write it all out in one go—messy, unfiltered, everything I’m trying to say, then I go back and shape it.” For him, the first draft is exploration. The second and third are refinement.
Others outline with precision. Leadership author Chris Cebollero works from structure: clear headlines, a defined introduction, three to five main points, a counterpoint, and a conclusion. He knows where a piece is going before he writes the first sentence. “A good outline doesn’t restrict the writing,” he noted. “It frees it.”
Some writers find their article while writing another document entirely. Dan Gerard described how preparing lectures, staff training materials, policy memos, or academic papers often becomes the scaffolding for publishable articles. If the research is done and the knowledge already organized, why not share it more widely?
The lesson here is simple—write the way you think, then revise the way your reader thinks.
Not Every Piece Needs to Be Published
This may be the most liberating lesson for new writers. Nearly every writer I spoke with has articles sitting unfinished, me included, or finished but unsent. Sometimes the topic has already been covered. Sometimes the piece doesn’t feel complete. Sometimes the writer realizes the story is still too close, too sharp, too emotional, to be useful to others yet.
Gerard described shelved articles about personal loss, colleagues lost to tragedy, illness, or suicide. “Some things,” he said, “I wasn’t ready to put into the world.”
Taigman admitted that some drafts, upon reread, simply “weren’t good, and nobody needs to read something that isn’t good.” He said this not with harshness, but with acceptance.
Writing is thinking. Not all thinking is ready for publication. Cebollero has a folder of 15–20 “almost ready” articles that he periodically revisits, polishing one when the timing finally feels right.
There is wisdom in restraint. Writing improves us even when the piece never leaves our hard drive. Publishing is not the only purpose—learning is.
Why They Write, and Why You Should, Too
Every writer I spoke with offered a variation of the same core motivation: writing is service.
It is a way to share lessons that might help others avoid harm or frustration, capture and spread ideas that work, improve the profession by improving understanding, and honor those we learned from, including those no longer here.
Zavadsky put it simply: “There is great satisfaction in contributing to the knowledge base of our profession." Barishansky’s advice was even simpler: “Just do it. Jump in.” Taigman’s clarity cuts through everything: “The difference between people who are published and people who are not is that the published ones write.”
The muscle develops only through use.
A Few Words About AI
Every writer I spoke to has experimented with AI to some extent, from fact-checking, to drafting sentence variations, to research assistance. But there is strong skepticism about allowing AI to shape voice. Gerard put it this way: “When I read something written by someone I know, I hear their voice. AI can’t do that.”
What makes an article compelling is not just the information it contains—it’s the humanity behind it. The lived experience. The emotional texture. The vulnerability. The inherited phrases of station humor and dark patience and the weight of experience carried in few words.
AI can help tidy the room; it cannot decide what the room means. Or as I would put it, AI is the assistant, not the boss!
The Final Thought
In EMS, writing is not a performance but a contribution. You do not need to be Hemingway, a chief, a professor, or a 25-year medic. You need only be someone who noticed something worth sharing, learned something worth passing on, and are willing to put those lessons into words.
That’s it!
The writers we quote did not become writers because they were anointed, they became writers because, at some point, they simply began. The literary journey of thousands of words begins with one thought, one article and a good editor!
