For several years, family and friends have suggested I publish a blog about my writing experience, as a means of establishing myself in the community of writers, and perhaps encouraging others that are themselves contemplating becoming writers and authors. I didn’t think that I would have anything to add that hasn’t already been stated by a slew of more experienced writers but, being introspective by nature, I now feel that it would be worthwhile to put down a few of my thoughts and experiences for those interested in beginning writing.
But first, full disclosure so you know if this blog will fit your needs: If you’re reading this on my website, you probably know my background. I am a physician, specifically a neurologist, in practice in Tidewater, Virginia since 1982. Since 1981 I have been married to the same wonderful woman, who shares my love of writing, and we have two grown married sons, one living in Richmond, Virginia and the other in Washington, DC (more about them in later blogs). This means that I have a full-time day job (my wife would call it a full-time day AND night job) and I’m not dependent on writing to pay my bills. In addition, my writing skills have basically been self-taught. I took no creative writing, journalism or literature classes in college (certainly not in medical school), and so most of my writing skills have come from observations from pleasure reading, an occasional adult education class, and from “how-to” books about writing. This is a cottage industry, and I recommend exploring these books on your own before putting pen to paper (or more likely fingers to keyboard).
I have written and published Brain Warp: A Medical Thriller” have just finished a second medical thriller, The Last, and I am currently seeking an agent to represent the manuscript. Before I started writing, I read a few medical thrillers by well-known authors such as Michael Palmer and Robin Cook, but this was primarily to familiarize myself with the genre, keeping my exploratory reading to a minimum to avoid the tendency to become derivative, either at a conscious or subconscious level.
To summarize, I believe this blog would be of most interest to those budding authors with little or no formal experience in writing, who feel deeply that they have something significant to say, and are willing to put aside some of the pleasures and routines of daily life to get it done. I have found writing to be an exhilarating, although sometimes frustrating, experience, but I learn from it every time I sit down at the keyboard.