Tales from the Doctor’s Office

Last night I finished reading the book, The Orange Wire Problem and Other Tales from the Doctor’s Office, just off the presses, written by Dr. David Watts. His first book of stories, published in 2005, was Bedside Manners; you may have read it. This new book is another delight, a treasure, comprised of vignettes shedding more light on the doctor-patient relationship. Watts is not only a doctor, he’s a gifted writer and poet, and his brand of storytelling comes across elegantly on every page of his book.

I’m not suggesting you write like he writes. Don’t. To take on the style of someone else is the best way to choke your story.  If you attempt to write by imitating the technique and voice of someone else, you will kill the authenticity of your story. Find your unique voice by trusting yourself and the process. To be sure, the stories I’ve collected for the TellTale Souls’ anthology, written by “ordinary” people, are beyond compare.

The Orange Wire Problem review I wrote is relevant to our focus on writing bio-vignettes. In this review, copied below, I give a couple examples from Watts’ book on how he gets his points across succinctly to the reader; the first speaks to writing with honesty about the fallibility of science and the mystery of healing; the second illustrates the art of dialogue and thought comingling to a humorous conclusion.

The author, David Watts, is a medical doctor friend of mine. If he can write, so can you. You know how doctors scrawl illegibly, and I don’t know about a scientist capturing character, but I’ll be darned, he did it!  In case you’re not sure, I’m spoofing here when I question his ability to write, as you’ll see when you read what I wrote about his book.

 As I’ve often said, writing a bio-vignette will prove to be the journey of a lifetime for you, but I know it’s not always so easy to begin your tale. David Watts confessed of being afraid to write when he first began his journey, and look where it took him. Yes, maybe you are, indeed, inspired to write a short memoir to honor a loved one, but you just can’t seem to get it started – the task can be daunting, but it is well within your reach. You can do it and join the ranks of hundreds of TellTale Souls, even doctors, who have gone before you.

Review:

David Watts charmingly reveals the challenges of both doctor and patient in thought provoking essays (bio-vignettes) that you can’t put down or easily forget. He brings unabashed humor and poignancy front and center from behind the door in the doctor’s office as he tells the tales of decades of his ministering to the sick. 

Throughout The Orange Wire Problem and Other Tales from the Doctor’s Office, Watts speaks reverently and poetically about the human condition when confronted with disease or just the maladies of being human. He is refreshingly honest and serious about the mysteries of science and healing when he says, “I see the mysterious in the way some people heal faster than others. I see it rise in us and bend us certain ways as we are confronted with illness or mortality, as if it waits for this, as if mystery always intends to rise up when we least expect it.” 

Looking at another side of him, Watts’ sense of humor sparkles in an incident when a somewhat irrational female patient manipulatively turns the tables and is concerned about Dr. Watts’ prostate, after he’s reluctant to order the irrelevant enzyme tests she demands. She says, “You know, sometimes when men…well you know, the men they have prostate problems like women have menopause and sometimes men have, well you know, prostate mental problems…”  He’s thinking, “…she was diagnosing my prostate by way of my brain, the culprit responsible for the glitch in the orderly procession toward her beloved enzyme tests.”  In his inimitable way, he sums up, “Learn a little somethin’ every day. Prostate mental problems, yes indeedy.”

 And then there are the beloved insurance companies: Ya gotta love him for the 17cent check from MediCal, labeled “full payment for services rendered,” he has framed on his wall, as well as his unwillingness to fight big government for payment. You can almost see Watts shrug his shoulders as he moves beyond the bureaucracy to give his patients what they need.

 We should all be so fortunate as to have Dr. Watts as our personal physician, after all he’ll prescribe a pill that he suggests you don’t swallow, just keep it in your pocket or in a locket around your neck – most likely your symptoms will disappear. And we’re right back to mysteries.

 Thank you, David Watts, for a bit of your soul.

Daughters and sons write bio-vignettes to honor their mothers & loved ones.