![]() ![]() In the writing world, the pen-name version of me progressed in much the same way. I remained shy and awkward on my own time while the doctor version of me grew engaging and bold. ![]() I worried early on if being a physician was a good fit for me. This was not an unfamiliar experience for me.Īs a medical student, I flushed with dread before walking into a stranger’s room. Hirsh created an out-of-body experience, providing me a degree of separation necessary to function as a public novelist.Ī funny thing happened on the way to the book festival: I acclimated. Interacting with bloggers and eventually with fans as David Z. Hirsch subsisted for the next three years by foraging gooseberries and licking the dew off spiny toads.”) I mitigated the problem by publishing my first novel under a pen name, creating an alternate persona with an amusing author bio (“Dr. How a Pen Name Helped Me Take the Leap Into Publishing Exposure, the thing you need most as a writer, filled me with dread. But that wasn’t the most onerous emotional challenge. ![]() ![]() Looking back, I am still not a big fan of rejection. I wrote for decades, scribbling into notebooks alone in my room often at odd hours of the night, before making the slightest attempt at publication.Īfter committing to a leap from obscurity, I assumed rejection would be my stumbling block. Writing is a solitary process, ideal for introverts, yet there are few actions more extroverted than baring your soul in a novel and sharing it with the world. ![]()
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