Is writing good for your health? It's certainly good for health writers, if Linda Formichelli's Resources for Health Writers is any thermometer, er, barometer. With more than 95 top online resources, this e-book helps any writer achieve a more robust health-writing career. Formichelli dispenses an impressive range of resources, including article markets, news sites, associations, organizations, expert directories, government sources, leads to vital statistics, and more.

I counted fourteen sections of resources, each with an introductory description. Every entry is alphabetized by name, with a web address and brief explanation for immediate prognosis of its usefulness. A sample: "Psycport; www.psycport.com: 'Daily news roundup by the American Psychological Association on psychological topics such as mental illness, meditation, and emotions.'"

The largest section, a perfect prescription to get those sluggish queries circulating, is "Markets": thirty-six magazines that accept freelance, health-related pitches, from AARP to Yoga Life. For each market, Formicelli provides much convenient information, including names, addresses, phone numbers, and web and e-mail addresses. But, as Formicelli points out, the book can be used for much more than locating markets. The information in many sections also stimulates timely ideas for interviews, opinion pieces, and even personal essays.

I'm a perfect specimen. Except for an occasional reference to no-fat latté, I've had little interest in writing health-related pieces. But as I browsed through this book, my adrenalin gushed and brain gurgled with ideas ("Can Restless Leg Syndrome Get a Foot in the Emergency Room Door?" "I Single-Handedly Spread the Great Second-Grade Poison-Ivy Plague").

Studying the book, I noticed the title on the title page reads Resources for Health Writers. On the very next page, the title reads Health Resources for Writers. Whether this variation was intentional, it accentuates the book's multiple uses-- a compendium of health writers' resources and also a well-stocked medical supply closet of ideas for writers to broaden their subject repertoires.

However, my diagnosis of this book wouldn't be ethical without mention of three points to which I reacted adversely. First, $19.95 for a 30-page e-book seems a little steep. Second, I sorely missed a table of contents. Although e-books are rarely formatted with numbered pages, a contents page nevertheless gives the reader an instant, instructive overview of what's in the book. When you peruse a contents list and are drawn to a single section, you can get to it, faster than a speeding ambulance, with your computer's "Find" function. Finally, granted that e-books generally sport few graphics, this book would look less like an operating room and more like an inviting patient lounge with the addition of some color and a few more fonts.

Despite its antiseptic appearance and deceptively thin size, though, Resources for Health Writers offers an energizing collection of resources and idea catalysts for both health-specializing writers and others who want to expand their expertise. So now, I'm slipping into my hospital gown to visit Formichelli's recommended CDC site for my essay on the great poison-ivy plague.

To order your copy: Send payment via PayPal to eric@twowriters.net or send a check to PO Box 2841, Concord, NH 03302. E-mail Linda Formichelli at linda-eric@lserv.com to let her know which book you’re purchasing and how many, and she’ll send you your copies via e-mail.

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Writer, editor and writing coach Noelle Sterne has published many articles in mainstream and writers’ publications, the most recent in Children’s Book Insider and The Writer. She's working up queries for health-related articles and completing her book of candid counsel and relentless support for writers, First You Find Your Desk: Start Writing and Keep Writing With Less Agony and More Joy.

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