Monday, January 20, 2014

Dr. David Margolis: "If I'm still chuckling...I've achieved my purpose"

Welcome to Dr. David Margolis, a fellow member of the St. Louis Writers Guild. Dr. Margolis received his medical degree at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg Canada. After completing a residency in Internal Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio and a fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis, he practiced gastroenterology in the suburbs of St. Louis for thirty-six years before retiring in 2013. His stories have appeared in several medical journals as well as HumorPress.com, Long Story Short and Still Crazy.  He resides in Creve Coeur, Mo., with his wife, two poodles and a set of golf clubs.

The Writers’ Lens is about "Bringing fiction into focus." What brings your writing into focus-- the characters, the stories, the love of words? Most of my writing most relates to the story that I am telling. I don’t think character development is my strong suit but I try to employ a humorous approach that will engage the reader and keep him in the story. I generally keep my writing brief with a minimal use of words, and this stems from my professional life as a consulting physician where I produced over fifty thousand notes and letters, attempting to express my thoughts in the fewest words possible. I love rummaging through the Thesaurus looking for interesting synonyms that will embellish the work. When I am done with a piece, if I am still chuckling, that tells me I have achieved my purpose.

How do you find time to write and do a demanding job? I enjoy writing and try to put aside two to three hours a day for composing new stories. So far I only have written short stories about 750 to 2500 words in length and I try to produce a piece on average every two weeks. I am fortunate to be retired, so I can devote more time to the hobby that I enjoy, but even when working I found that there is a certain discipline required to devote some time every week to writing otherwise nothing gets accomplished. It seems that on my worst days when I was stuck with a story or just not in the mood, sitting down to the computer produced some of my best work.

What inspired your latest book? My book was inspired by the death of my dog Elmo who was an extremely intelligent black standard poodle.  Before that, I had not done any serious writing but I started off by composing a eulogy to him, and my friends and relatives seemed to like it so I converted the eulogy to a short story and that started me on my writing career.  I had always wanted to write a book about my experience as a gastroenterologist and I included a fictitious patient in that first story and that led to more stories about my patients as well as imaginary gastroenterologists and their imaginary patients.

I believe any reader who has an interest in the medical field or works with patients will find this book worth reading and I hope the humor in the stories will keep them smiling.  There is a story about my own colonoscopy and anyone over the age of fifty has had, or should have had this procedure so they can relate to my experience.

Would you share a bit about your next project? My next project is a book of humorous pieces. Some are related to medicine but other topics include dogs, golf, Santa Claus and characters from fairy tales and Nursery Rhymes as well as my tribulations negotiating life as a retired guy. I have written serious pieces but most of my publications are humorous stories. I am a five-time winner and finalist at Humorpress.com and those stories will be included in the book.

LOOKING BEHIND--This is a collection of fictional stories and poems based on the life of gastroenterologist, David Margolis MD. The stories include vignettes of his life growing up in Canada, his experiences in training, and his years as a practicing gastroenterologist both at home and in the office. Some of the stories are quite factual, others are more imaginative; many will elicit a laugh, and some may cause a tear to be shed. The book is infused with the author’s humility, humor and humanity as well as his honest concern for patients and should be of interest to those in the medical field as well as anyone interested in the practice of medicine.

You can get the book  or the ebook at Amazon or Barnes and Noble. It is on sale at All on the Same Page in Creve Coeur or Subterranean Books on Delmar. His website is davidmargolismd.com
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This is T.W. Fendley. You can find out more about me and my books at www.twfendley.com. Thanks for reading and commenting on The Writers' Lens.


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