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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