Maryann Bucknum Brinley

Once upon a time, I wanted to be just like Brenda Starr, the classically cool, red-haired, comic strip reporter who used her journalistic skills to save the day. Never mind that I don’t have red hair nor have I followed Brenda’s quite so adventurous career path exactly. But in truth, I am an experienced editor and award-winning writer of books, magazine articles, and all sorts of non-fiction works. In today’s internet world, that makes me a content provider.

I am keenly interested in medicine, science, alternative and complementary therapies, the wisdom of women, motherhood, families, the human brain, relationships, Shipwreck Brinley Gold rum, but most important of all, the incredible power of words.

As poet Emily Dickinson wrote, “I know nothing in the world that has as much power as a word. Sometimes I write one, and I look at it, until it begins to shine."

If you need someone to make your business, your institution, your hospital, your medical school or your own thoughts shine, I can give you the right words.

                     -- Maryann B. Brinley

Education

Penn State University, University Park, PA
BA, Journalism, Graduated cum laude in three years, Wrote for The Daily Collegian

Recent Experience

Senior Writer/Editor, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ), now Rutgers, Publications Office, Newark, NJ, for 12 years

Researched, wrote and produced Pulse, a 40-page magazine published twice a year for New Jersey Medical School and University Hospital

Wrote features, profiles and columns for UMDNJ Magazine, produced for the eight medical schools in the state of New Jersey 

Created UMDNJ University Report annually

Generated stories and marketing ideas for UMDNJ Public Affairs Department

To read some of the hundreds of stories I’ve written, click on "Writing Samples" on the right.

Magazine staff positions:

• Ladies Home Journal, Assistant Editor
• Good Housekeeping, Associate Editor
• Family Health, Senior Editor
• Woman Magazine, Editor-in-chief
• New Mother News, Creator and Editorial Director
• McCall’s Magazine, Senior Editor and columnist
• Good Housekeeping Institute, Director of the Infants and Children’s Laboratory
• Woman’s Day, Senior Editor

Books Written and Published:

• Through The Motherhood Maze (Doubleday 1981)
• Maternity Style (St. Martin’s Press 1985)
• My Feet Are Killing Me (ghost-writer: McGraw-Hill 1987)
• Jackie Cochran (Bantam Books 1987)
• Medical Book of Remedies for People Over 50 (Publications International 1996)
• Are We Having Fun Yet? The 16 Secrets of Happy Parenting (Warner 1997)
• The Everything Pregnancy Book (Adams Media 1999)
• Fat Chat with Tamara (Contemporary Books 2000)
• Oh Boy, Mothers Tell the Truth About Raising Teen Sons (Warner 2002)

Freelance Writing Bylines:

McCall’s, Country Living, Woman’s Day, Health, Walking, Home PC, Good Housekeeping, and Montclair State University. I have also produced newsletters for Reader’s Digest, for the Epilepsy Foundation of America and for various pharmaceutical companies.