Has anyone written a book during medical school?

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bceagle411

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Im curious if anyone here has gone through the experience. To make a long story short, I responded to a writing prompt which took off, and now im about 70 pages into writing a book from it. I havent even thought about the process of publishing yet, but Im curious if anyone has a similar experience.

Also if I publish, is this something I can put on a residency app (not even close to why i keep writing, but since if I publish im pretty sure it will go under a pen name, not sure if I can put that on an app since my real name wont be on the book)

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It would be pretty impressive. Most people wouldn't have the time, but if you're excellent at memorizing, med school can almost be chill. My friend has a photographic memory, so med school is more of a part-time hobby for him than anything else.
 
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This is awesome! I've written two books but the bulk of it was done in the year preceding medical school. I "cleaned up" and published them during medical school, and in residency I published a short story anthology.

It's totally awesome to have a hobby in med school to keep you leveled. Not everyone is going to flock to running, baking, camping, etc. Great work!
 
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This is awesome! I've written two books but the bulk of it was done in the year preceding medical school. I "cleaned up" and published them during medical school, and in residency I published a short story anthology.

It's totally awesome to have a hobby in med school to keep you leveled. Not everyone is going to flock to running, baking, camping, etc. Great work!

thanks! Did you self publish or do it through an agent?
 
I wrote 2 books during Med school, but haven't gone through and edited them yet and thus haven't sought out publishing. If you have a twitter account, there are a lot of pitching events for agents and publishers that you can look at when you finish writing and editing your book.
 
I am currently writing more books.
My writing style is this : I start to write about a subject and I can think of so many ideas to write about that I keep writing it, when I think " this is the end ", there is always more to it, so I start writing another book in parallel, then another one and another one . . . I have papers and documents all around, if I would divide them into books, I think I would have 3 or 4 or 5 books in total.
That being said, it's better to write one book and publish it than to write 5 unfinished books.
 
The key is to write books after you're finished with school. See: Tucker Max
 
Im trying to finish my first novel. I have two that are half-way done, and one of them I'm going through with a critique group on Scribeophile.

Incidentally, I will have need of one or two physician beta readers for the one I hope to finish by graduation. There a few sequences where I'm playing fast and loose with a medical crises.

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Im trying to finish my first novel. I have two that are half-way done, and one of them I'm going through with a critique group on Scribeophile.

Incidentally, I will have need of one or two physician beta readers for the one I hope to finish by graduation. There a few sequences where I'm playing fast and loose with a medical crises.

Sent from my SM-N910P using SDN mobile

that sounds interesting. Mine will probably end up being a story for young adults, so any medical stuff thats in there is high school level!
 
Paul Kalanithi wrote a book during his NSG residency about having a terminal illness. It's called "When Breath Becomes Air." I just got it for xmas and am really looking forward to it.
 
Paul Kalanithi wrote a book during his NSG residency about having a terminal illness. It's called "When Breath Becomes Air." I just got it for xmas and am really looking forward to it.

You'll love it.
 
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Cool thread. Glad to see that some people are able to do this. I started writing fiction recently, and I'm hoping to spend a good bit of time on it during my gap year.

My hope for med school is just that I'll be able to spend enough time writing to keep my skills from dulling too much. If I can actually produce anything worth reading during that time, I figure that's just gravy.

Anyway, it's encouraging to see that some of you are able to be productive writers while in med school.
 
Paul Kalanithi wrote a book during his NSG residency about having a terminal illness. It's called "When Breath Becomes Air." I just got it for xmas and am really looking forward to it.

Very sad but incredible book.
 
I was going to mention Michael Crichton, but someone beat me to it.

I heard from someone who was in the class behind him that he was so marginal as a clinician that his school was considering booting him out and not letting him graduate. But he was clearly talented as a writer and had already begun publishing and gaining some acclaim. So, the faculty pulled him aside and basically explained that they would let him graduate so that he could have the MD degree and hold the title, but that they wouldn't support him in pursuing any residency training obtaining a license to practice. If he wouldn't accept that, they planned to just expel him, because they were afraid he'd kill someone and it would reflect poorly on the school.

So, yeah, write in med school, but don't neglect your study. Unless you are the next Michael Crichton.
 
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Agree. I personally waste a lot of time being unproductive. That said, I'm a 2nd year with boards in 6 months, so I wouldn't be able to justify spending much time on anything but cramming all of this crap in.

Honestly I think most people don't have the time because they're bad at managing it or simply too mentally burnt out to do anything after studying.

Personally, I dick around on here/reddit on average ~2 hours/day, go to the gym 4-5 times/week, and do some research/volunteering as well. I've still got time to get honors in preclinicals. I just have a hard time justifying extracurricular pursuits in 2nd and 3rd years. Those years basically decide your life for you. Even if my 2nd greatest passion in life was writing, it would be hard to look back and say, "I got a 210 on step 1 and poor clinical grades, but I'm so glad I got writing done during those years." I'd much rather be in the boat of saying, "I got a 250 on step 1 and matched into my dream specialty. I had to make some sacrifices those years, but now I have the life I want and I write on the side."
 
Thanks so much for this thread. I wasn't drawn to writing fiction until my gap/application years, and seeing that it is possible to continue this hobby through schooling and residency gives me so much life!
 
Currently working on a nonfiction book. Also did 2 extensive updates to my previous nonfiction book while in med school. Current third year.


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I wrote a book in medical school and a second book in residency. They've both done well. Focus on studying for tests, but you can definitely make time here and there to work on the book. Good luck.
 
Im curious if anyone here has gone through the experience. To make a long story short, I responded to a writing prompt which took off, and now im about 70 pages into writing a book from it. I havent even thought about the process of publishing yet, but Im curious if anyone has a similar experience.

Also if I publish, is this something I can put on a residency app (not even close to why i keep writing, but since if I publish im pretty sure it will go under a pen name, not sure if I can put that on an app since my real name wont be on the book)

Shameless self plug if you are curious and want to read some of it: Infection • r/TheInfection

I loved your writing, very scientific. Keep it up.
 
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