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![[Read Comment]](/icons/misc/sectionDOWN.gif){kind=icon}
Time Is On My Side
Narrative shmarrative?
Writing Seminars
Writing as Therapy
Scribblers unite!
Making the time
"Making Time"
Increasing writing productivity
Reasons for Writing
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Douglas M Post, Columbus, OH, US Associate Professor, Department of Family Medicine, The Ohio State University
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Here it is, three years after I first read this wonderful essay, and I’ve decided to clear the decks and finally submit a commentary. As I put pen to paper (I often start this way), the Rolling Stone’s 1964 song, “Time Is On My Side, comes to mind. What to make of this? My first thought is that I frequently feel that time is definitely not on my side. Too often, I start the day with what I think is a reasonable list of tasks I’d like to accomplish, and end the day with a disappointing realization that few, if any, of those items can be crossed off the list. Writing an article seems to be a pursuit that can get easily get lost in the busy shuffle of a grant deadline, the needs of a 5 pm meeting, a student who needs to be seen and heard. . . the list goes on. I’ve always felt the best writing produces reflection. The deck clearer with attendant guilt and a longing for the scheduler’s approach rang true. And a question: What can be done to increase the feeling that time is on my side? Great writing can also lead to action. “Schedulers force themselves to confront their own motivation and to face off against the demons of self-doubt and procrastination.” Three years later, perhaps Friday mornings. Thanks, Lucy. Competing interests: None declared |
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Alan M Blum, Tuscaloosa, AL USA Professor and Endowed Chair of Family Medicine
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Permit me to add a belated thank you for publishing Dr. Candib's essay on making time to write. I have always wedged (in my writing and sketching), but after reading this piece I'm determined to schedule as well. Why, when, where, and for whom we write are eternally valuable topics for discussion. I'm still not convinced, however (unlike my otherwise thoughtful fellow respondent Dr. John Scott), of the need for some separate "pioneering" discipline called "narrative medicine," since that's what good doctors have been doing as second nature all along. It's ironic, too, that this coinage should have come from New York (my home town), which is one of the weakest places on earth for family medicine. I would also question whether folks at family medicine-phobic medical schools ought to be trumpeting their introduction of programs in medicine and the humanities that others have been doing without fanfare for years. At Baylor College of Medicine in the late-1980s, for instance, Dr. Warren Holleman single-handedly created the college-wide lecture series, "Compassion and the Art of Medicine," devoted to personal reflections on the experience of illness. The course has become among the most well- received and unifying curriculum innovations in the school's history. Competing interests: None declared |
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Susan H McDaniel, Rochester NY Professor & Associate Chair, Dept of Family Medicine, University of Rochester
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Thank you, Lucy, for giving us categories to place ourselves as we in Family Medicine encourage ourselves and our colleagues to write about our programs, our ideas, our research, our experiences. I want to be a scheduler, but the realities of my work and family life make me a wedger-- writing on napkins, envelopes, and anything in my line of vision when the idea hits. More to the point, I come across talented people doing innovative work in Family Medicine every day, and want so much for this work to be shared with a larger audience, for us to continue creating a culture in academic Family medicine where our faculty participate actively in an exchange of ideas outside of our local community. And that means writing. In our department, I've taught a monthly Professional Writing Seminar for our fellows and junior faculty for almost 15 years (described in *Piercy, McDaniel & Sprenkle, 1996). It is one of the most fun things I do, and I thank Rick Botelho for dragging me into doing it. It's a wonderful, cost-effective vehicle for any department to decrease the barriers to publication for junior faculty and trainees. All it takes is someone with a passion for writing--a deck clearer, a wedger, or a scheduler. The rest happens naturally. And finally, thank you, Lucy, for continually bringing us new perspectives and challenging ideas through you own characteristically clear and thoughtful writing. Any publication with "Lucy Candib" at the top is one I read immediately. *Piercy, F., McDaniel, S., & Sprenkle, D. 1996 Teaching professional writing to family therapists. J of Marital and Family Therapy, 22:2:163-180. Susan H McDaniel PhD, Professor of Psychiatry & Family Medicine, Associate Chair, Department of Family Medicine, Director, Wynne Center for Family Research, University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry, Rochester NY Competing interests: None declared |
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Cynthia L Haq, Madison, Wisconsin USA University of Wisconsin
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As physicians we are frequent witnesses to the grand expanse of human beings-from birth to death, joy to sorrow, and ecstasy to profound depression. Yet witnessing often seems insufficient to the grandeur of the events. The birth of a child, the loss of a dear friend, a vivid dream, or a brilliant sunset are triggers that may compel me to write. Writing helps me integrate the depths of what I have witnessed into my own self. The written word serves as a balm to ease the pain of sorrows I have absorbed, or to ensure clear memories of details that may become foggy with time. Writing is a conduit through which I can absorb and reflect the world through myself. Writing helps consolidate my relationship to others and to the world. Competing interests: None declared |
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Paul Gross, New York, USA Assistant professor, Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center
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I appreciate Lucy Candib putting this topic on the table-- acknowledging the difficulty in finding/making time to write, and giving voice to the urge so many of us have to express ourselves in this way. A few thoughts: None of us does as much writing as he or she would like--and we generally confess that to one another the minute the subject comes up. Most of us, I think, feel guilty about not writing more. I offer no advice about the guilt, but would like to acknowledge its universality. The competing demands are many, as Eliza Chin so aptly notes. Why do I write? For the same reason, I think, that others garden, or cook. It’s a form of self expression. It’s also a kind of meditation, centering me in the here-and-now. And I find, as John Scott points out, that it helps process the slings and arrows of medical and personal life. One reason that we haven’t enough time to write is that it pays so damned poorly (as do gardening, cooking, acting, singing and other liberating pursuits). A few years ago, I had the outrageous good luck to submit a few columns to a magazine that bought them for a dollar a word. Wow! I can’t tell you how affirming that was--and how much easier it was to find time to write when I knew there would be a check attached. (Of note: the magazine folded. I don’t think my columns were the cause.) A while ago I changed my work schedule to 95% time, giving me three out of four Fridays off. The ostensible purpose was to write and to spend more time with my family. I can’t claim that I’ve spent all those Fridays writing, but it has ventilated my schedule a bit. If I stay up ‘til all hours Tuesday night, the week that stretches ahead isn’t quite so forbidding. In the article’s terminology, I’d hoped to become a ”scheduler” but instead am probably still a “wedger.” (It’s now Sunday afternoon. What am I doing indoors on a beautiful day like this? What, indeed?) I hope within the coming year to launch a magazine--with institutional support from Montefiore, my new employer--that will give voice to our personal experiences as physicians. When this publication takes off, it will need your contributions. Stay tuned. And thanks for this important discussion. Competing interests: None declared |
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Matthew A Silva, Worcester, Assistant Professor, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
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As the typical deck-clearer I yearn to grow into a methodical, organized scheduler. Maybe I will become a temporary wedger in the process, but regardless of the path, a commitment to writing may force a necessary evolution. We could all improve our "writers within" by investing in this advice. Thanks for the inspiration! Competing interests: None declared |
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Eliza L Chin, Piedmont, USA Physician; Editor, This Side of Doctoring: Reflections from Women in Medicine
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My dream, I suppose, has always been to be a "wedger," one who "lives to write" and one who creates masterpieces during stolen moments. A colleague of mine described it quite aptly when she confessed that she wrote on any medium at hand, whether it be a scrap of paper or piece of toilet paper. But I am a deck clearer, one who waits for everything else to settle down before the real work of writing can begin. The trouble, though, is that with three young children, a part-time practice, and a surgeon-husband, things never quite settle down in our household. And so the book project that I started over a year ago, continues to collect dust on the pile beneath my desk, waiting for a time that never seems to come. I was inspired by Dr. Candib's article. Ultimately, those of us who value writing must set aside time for this pursuit. So next week, I'm going to schedule it in, just like I would my kids' swim lessons. And maybe, just maybe, that manuscript will finally get finished. Competing interests: None declared |
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Alfred F. Tallia, New Brunswick, New Jersey Associate Professor
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We have all wished for the ability to warp time and ring a few more hours out of each day like the spice traders from Dune. Alas, as our colleague from Massachusetts counsels us, there is no easy way to increase our writing productivity but to set aside the necessary time to do so in our complicated personal and professional lives. This essay is must reading for the serious, successful writer as well as the novice, for good guidance is given. Those of us who have followed the siren call of the ‘blocks’ or ‘wedgies’ techniques and approaches will just smile ruefully. As the author demonstrates, there is no substitute for disciplined, persistent regularity of protected time in bringing success to the job of writing. And with this fidelity of purpose, joy can be and often is achieved. All of us, including this reader, should thank the author for her sage advice. Competing interests: None declared |
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John G. Scott, New Brunswick, USA Assistant Professor of Family Medicine UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
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I love Lucy Candib’s classification scheme for writers. I too romanticize “wedgers.” My oldest daughter is a wedger. I think one must be born to this, because she has done it all her life. I alternate between being a “scheduler” and a “clear the decks” writer. I keep to a schedule for a while, but I’m not disciplined enough to maintain it. I procrastinate by using my scheduled time for almost anything else – checking and responding to email is my usual best procrastination technique. Finally guilt builds to an intolerable level and I make myself start. Once I get a few paragraphs of a draft done, then I can’t stop. I “clear the decks” and neglect everything else until the piece is complete. Maybe there should be another classification for “binge” writers. Unfortunately, most medical professionals don’t write at all. The main function of writing, I believe, is not for publication but to reflect on one’s life and experiences. Such reflection is particularly important for those who care for patients, yet I find that doctors and nurses rarely reflect on their roles as healers and care givers. Perhaps this has to do with our training, whose emphasis on rationality and logic causes both our reflective capacity and our writing skills to wither. Patients bring coherence to their suffering by telling stories. Narrative is healing for both patients and the people who care for them. We should be encouraging medical, nursing, and psychotherapy students as well as residents to develop the habit of writing. A few pioneering teachers are doing this, Rita Charon being the best example.[1- 3] All of us should be doing whatever it takes to write, be we wedgers, schedulers, clear the decks captains or bingers. The most talented writers among us will get some of those writings published, but all of us will benefit from reflecting on what we do, and from the healing that comes in the creation of stories. References 1. Charon, R., Reading, writing, and doctoring: literature and medicine. Am J Med Sci, 2000. 319(5): p. 285-91. 2. Charon, R., Narrative and medicine. N Engl J Med, 2004. 350(9): p. 862-4. 3. DasGupta, S. and R. Charon, Personal illness narratives: using reflective writing to teach empathy. Acad Med, 2004. 79(4): p. 351-6. Competing interests: None declared |
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