This year was certainly a very busy one for me both personally and within the writing profession. I embarked on some new forays into different types of writing, took on some interesting projects, and met some fascinating new people along the way.
In the days following Christmas, I started to look back on all of the content I produced, not only for Frank’s Forum but for other entities, and I compiled a look back at 2015. The best manner to do this type of piece is to share the links to the work and some of the back story behind it. The overall theme being that the support and encouragement I get from the readers is the true indication of what I have truly achieved in my writing work. I am grateful and blessed to have your support.
The amazing aspect of writing is that no matter how long you have undertaken it; there is always something new around the corner, so to speak, it is constantly evolving. It is true that after some quantity of years each writer “finds their voice” which is certainly true in my case.
However, I found that challenging myself to take on new projects or new types of writing (song lyrics was the challenge in 2015) it helped in my overall growth as a writer and changed my perspective in approaching older projects that had been tabled for a while. The saying “everything old is new again” comes to mind in this regard.
I am proud to share my writing with you, the audience, and I have been surprised and overwhelmed by the way that my work has resonated with you. I am pleased to share this year in review with you and appreciate the generosity of your time in reading the words that I have produced.
The beginning of 2015 in January began with the culmination of a large project I was working on revolving around a series of articles I researched and wrote about an auto-immune disease known as Scleroderma. The articles were all really well received and were picked up by various medical type internet based news sources. The link below is to the series for the Medium website which gained pretty widespread exposure for this important and to some extent obscure disease:
https://medium.com/@FMaduri/scleroderma-suffering-in-silence-part-1-2729b5ae6259#.2awlnmbph
I have also included below the link to Part 2 of the series for Medium which is the conclusion to that series of articles. I am currently in the research phase for another article on Scleroderma which focuses on some new treatments for this disease:
https://medium.com/@FMaduri/scleroderma-suffering-in-silence-part-2-631acdd2134f#.9huv5v8g3
Most of you know that a portion of my writing involves sports writing, and as a staff writer for SB Nation covering the New York Red Bulls, an article that I wrote in January 2015 was very well received. It involved the sudden firing of Head Coach Mike Petke and summed up the emotions from the perspective of the fan base:
http://www.onceametro.com/2015/1/8/7508301/the-fallout-from-the-firing-of-mike-petke
In a link back to this site, I wrote a follow up story to an article series I had done previously on a very important topic: homelessness in the American military veteran population. The initial series garnered some significant readers and the follow up report was something I felt I had to include here:
http://frankmaduri.com/follow-up-homeless-veterans-in-u-s-cities/
February brought the idea for an article in another area where I have gained publishing credits over time, Catholic media, with an article on Candlemass Day:
http://www.catholic365.com/article/708/the-light-of-the-world-candlemass-day.html
A big local story that hit close to home for me was the campaign to save Mater Dei Prep, the high school attached to my parish. The article I did for the local Patch site really resonated with readers, and in the end, the school was saved from closure through the generosity of donations as well as a concerted fundraising campaign:
http://patch.com/new-jersey/rumson/mater-dei-prep-campaigns-save-school-closure
The winter of 2015 was one of the coldest in history and that served as an inspiration for a work of poetry I published in March called “Winter Sky”. Many of you who have followed my work over the years know that my poetry is where I produce some of the most uninhibited content to evoke emotions in my readers. If you are new to reading my work I hope you will take the time to read my poetry:
http://allpoetry.com/poem/11946822–Winter-Sky–by-Frank-J.-Maduri#share
In April, along with the arrival of Spring, I delved into a new area of writing: song lyrics. I had been told for years by people closest to me that read my poetry that it could very easily be translated into lyrics. One of the most incredible moments in my writing career was opening the envelope in the mail from the U.S. Copyright Office with all of the certificates to copyright my published song lyrics. I have included the link to them below:
http://frankmaduri.com/song-lyrics-by-frank-j-maduri/
This next work of poetry was shared by readers on Facebook for a total of 1,300 times which I was very grateful and humbled by:
http://www.catholic365.com/article/1356/poetry-blessed.html
The month of May brought a special report on the food industry, where I concentrate a specific focus on based on my prior industry experience. This article came about in response to a growing trend I picked up on which the food companies were making ingredient changes to appeal to the natural foods trend. This piece ventures into that topic and the debate over whether it is all just a savvy marketing technique:
http://frankmaduri.com/fast-food-recipe-changes-smart-science-or-smart-marketing/
The summer brought me into other projects which did not involve news writing or creative writing being published. However in the late part of July I did publish this piece for Sportsblog.com which I recently received the honor of having one of the top blogs covering the NJ Devils hockey team. This article though was on the NBA and it combined my understanding of sports, marketing, sports finance, and politics. It gained an enthusiastic response to which I am grateful:
http://fjmaduri.sportsblog.com/posts/2933778/chess-game–the-nba–milwaukee—-the-new-bucks-arena.html
A poem I wrote a while before I published it became the highlight of my work in August. It was originally written while I was covering a news story on the drought in California:
http://frankmaduri.com/poetry-by-frank-j-maduri-drought-conditions/
I have held a position with UPI (United Press International) for a few years now where I produce commentary pieces for them in certain topic areas. I have been blessed and fortunate to have several of those articles become published internationally through their platforms. I wrote a piece which did very well in October on the merger of two huge brewing companies and explained the implications on a larger scale for consumers:
The environment and environmental stewardship is a large component of my writing for this site and for others. I will share with you a piece I did on an environmental issue that was alarming to many readers:
http://frankmaduri.com/below-the-ground-fracking-wastewater-irrigation/
In addition I have written many articles on business and finance in the past. This article in particular was the topic of some very kind and positive feedback from a small business group and was even read by my sales rep from my website hosting company who called me to tell me he was really impressed by my knowledge of this topic which was very gracious of him:
http://frankmaduri.com/strong-bucks-the-strength-of-the-us-dollar-the-impact-on-small-businesses/
I had a crossroads in my life this summer and this blog post was the result of a confluence of those factors and reflections on recent years including Hurricane Sandy which I did a substantial amount of reporting on in recent years:
http://frankmaduri.com/return-to-the-playground-the-stalled-recovery-of-union-beach/
I leave you all in this year in review with an article that was one of the most read pieces I had the blessing and honor to produce this year for Catholic365.com – it was shared close to 2,500 times on Facebook and received over 3,000 link shares across all social media platforms overall in the metrics I keep. I hope it will provide you inspiration and hope for the year ahead in 2016:
http://www.catholic365.com/article/1303/the-3-oclock-hour-the-chaplet-of-the-divine-mercy.html
Thank you all for your continued support of my writing work. I am blessed and appreciate all of your encouragement. Happy New Year and May God bless you all in the year ahead!