Great Neck Estates resident Joan Swirsky said she had written books on illness, motherhood and murder before.
But her new book, Swirsky said, “The Caregiver’s Survival Guide: How to Do the Right Thing for your Child, Spouse, Partner & Parents Without Getting Depressed, Giving Up or Going Insane!” tackles an issue she hasn’t touched before: how to cope as a caregiver.
“This is a book that in every single chapter, there are numerous coping strategies,” she said. “It’s not just a book about the subject of caregiving, it’s a how-to on what you do and how you cope.”
Swirsky said her writing career began after she saw her first letter to the editor published in the Great Neck Record, which she described as “very cool.”
After continuing to write “poison pen letters,” she said, she decided to write musical productions.
One of the four musicals Swirsky wrote, called “Oh Baby!” was produced in New York City in 1983.
The musical was about three couples facing parenthood, a subject she said she felt very knowledgeable about because she gave birth to her first child at 18 years old, was a certified nurse and taught Lamaze classes.
Around the same time, Swirsky said, she had begun writing editorial content for the Long Island section of the New York Times, which she did for 22 years.
In 1985, she was approached by a Great Neck woman who was to be the editor of a new publication based in Roslyn called The Women’s Press.
“She liked my style because it’s kind of aggressive and funny,” Swirsky said. “She asked me if I would be one of the writers.”
She said her first assignment was to follow up on a short Newsday article about Long Island having more instances of breast cancer than all of Westchester and the five boroughs of New York City.
“My editor, knowing I was a nurse, said ‘why don’t you investigate this’” Swirsky said. “She just wanted me to write one article about it.”
After having difficulty getting officials from the Nassau County Board of Health to help her, she said, she was motivated to write an in-depth story.
Swirsky said the one article she was supposed to write turned into an eight-part series, which led to her receiving a Long Island Press award.
She said she also used her experiences as a nurse and journalist to begin writing books.
Since her first book was published in 1991, Swirsky said, she has either written or co-authored 12 books.
She said her works have been published by notable publishers like Penguin Random House, HarperCollins and Berkley Books.
Her books, Swirsky said, tackle subjects such as breast cancer, childhood mental illness and pregnancy.
“I never invented a quote and I never loaded an article with a bias because everything speaks for itself,” she said. “Most of them are very serious books.”
Swirsky said her motivation for “The Caregiver’s Survival Guide” stemmed from her experiences raising a child who was born deaf and has neurological problems and when she placed her mother into the Grace Plaza Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Great Neck.
“That taught me so much about the people who are called upon to be caregivers, most of whom are women,” she said. “A lot of the women are devoted and physically attentive and that’s a very big challenge because people have very busy lives themselves.”
Prior to writing the book, Swirsky said, she read seven other books about caregiving to broaden her knowledge on the subject.
“I wanted to make sure I didn’t write a book somebody else wrote already,” she said.
Swirsky said the book was “unique” because instead of focusing on one group of people who needs caregivers, she gives insight on caregiving for seniors, sick children, spouses, veterans and even the gay community, which she said often gets overlooked.
“Every book I read was phenomenal but they were very focused on either a parent or spouse,” she said. “This is based on first-person experiences, which is my life as a nurse, as a mother, as a daughter, all in the caregiving roles.”
“The Caregiver’s Survival Guide” is available for purchase online on Amazon and Barnes & Noble’s websites.
“I’m very happy with it because it’s a beautiful book,” Swirsky said. “A few people have told me that they loved it and said it was just what they needed.”
