| "body"> | | | | doctor and patient in thought provoking essays |
| Last night, I finished reading the book, The Orange | | | | (bio-vignettes) that you can't put down or easily forget. |
| Wire Problem and Other Tales from the Doctor's | | | | He brings unabashed humor and poignancy front and |
| Office, just off the presses, written by Dr. David | | | | center from behind the door in the doctor's office as |
| Watts. His first book of stories, published in 2005, was | | | | he tells the tales of decades of his ministering to the |
| Bedside Manners; you may have read it. This new | | | | sick. |
| book is another delight, a treasure, comprised of | | | | Throughout The Orange Wire Problem and Other |
| vignettes shedding more light on the doctor-patient | | | | Tales from the Doctor's Office, Watts speaks |
| relationship. Watts is not only a doctor, he's a gifted | | | | reverently and poetically about the human condition |
| writer and poet, and his brand of storytelling comes | | | | when confronted with disease or just the maladies of |
| across elegantly on every page of his book. | | | | being human. He is refreshingly honest and serious |
| I'm not suggesting you write like he writes. Don't. To | | | | about the mysteries of science and healing when he |
| take on the style of someone else is the best way to | | | | says, "I see the mysterious in the way some people |
| choke your story. If you attempt to write by imitating | | | | heal faster than others. I see it rise in us and bend us |
| the technique and voice of someone else, you will kill | | | | certain ways as we are confronted with illness or |
| the authenticity of your story. Find your unique voice | | | | mortality, as if it waits for this, as if mystery always |
| by trusting yourself and the process. To be sure, the | | | | intends to rise up when we least expect it." |
| stories I've collected for the TellTale Souls anthology, | | | | Looking at another side of him, Watts' sense of humor |
| written by "ordinary" people, are beyond compare. | | | | sparkles in an incident when a somewhat irrational |
| The Orange Wire Problem review I wrote is relevant | | | | female patient manipulatively turns the tables and is |
| to our focus on writing bio-vignettes. In this review, | | | | concerned about Dr. Watts' prostate, after he's |
| copied below, I give a couple examples from Watts' | | | | reluctant to order the irrelevant enzyme tests she |
| book on how he gets his points across succinctly to | | | | demands. She says, "You know, sometimes when |
| the reader; the first speaks to writing with honesty | | | | men...well you know, the men they have prostate |
| about the fallibility of science and the mystery of | | | | problems like women have menopause and |
| healing; the second illustrates the art of dialogue and | | | | sometimes men have, well you know, prostate mental |
| thought comingling to a humorous conclusion. | | | | problems..." He's thinking, "...she was diagnosing my |
| The author, David Watts, is a medical doctor friend of | | | | prostate by way of my brain, the culprit responsible for |
| mine. If he can write, so can you. You know how | | | | the glitch in the orderly procession toward her beloved |
| doctors scrawl illegibly, and I don't know about a | | | | enzyme tests." In his inimitable way, he sums up, "Learn |
| scientist capturing character, but I'll be darned, he did it! | | | | a little somethin' every day. |
| In case you're not sure, I'm spoofing here when I | | | | Prostate mental problems, yes indeedy." |
| question his ability to write, as you'll see when you read | | | | And then there are the beloved insurance companies: |
| what I wrote about his book. | | | | Ya gotta love him for the 17cent check from MediCal, |
| As I've often said, writing a bio-vignette will prove to be | | | | labeled "full payment for services rendered," he has |
| the journey of a lifetime for you, but I know it's not | | | | framed on his wall, as well as his unwillingness to fight |
| always so easy to begin your tale. David Watts | | | | big government for payment. You can almost see |
| confessed of being afraid to write when he first began | | | | Watts shrug his shoulders as he moves beyond the |
| his journey, and look where it took him. Yes, maybe | | | | bureaucracy to give his patients what they need. |
| you are, indeed, inspired to write a short memoir to | | | | We should all be so fortunate as to have Dr. Watts as |
| honor a loved one, but you just can't seem to get it | | | | our personal physician, after all he'll prescribe a pill that |
| started - the task can be daunting, but it is well within | | | | he suggests you don't swallow, just keep it in your |
| your reach. You can do it and join the ranks of | | | | pocket or in a locket around your neck - most likely |
| hundreds of TellTale Souls, even doctors, who have | | | | your symptoms will disappear. And we're right back to |
| gone before you. | | | | mysteries. |
| Review: | | | | Thank you, David Watts, for a bit of your soul. |
| David Watts charmingly reveals the challenges of both | | | | |