an obstetricians mid-life crisis: a million stories in the ... · my daughter likes the books but...
TRANSCRIPT
An Obstetricians Mid-Life
Crisis: A Million Stories in
the Naked City
Roger Newman, MD
Professor and Maas Endowed Chair for
Reproductive Sciences
Medical University of South Carolina
Charleston, S.C.
Learning Objectives: At the end of
this presentation the participant should be able to
Identify a mid-life crisis when you see one
Understand how our careers and
experiences can fuel our creativity
Review the trials and tribulations of writing
a novel and attempting to publish
Explain why you should not give up your
day job
OCCAM’S RAZORPublished by Moonshine Cove
July 2014
OCCAM’S RAZOR Dr. Declan Murphy defies state and federal law
enforcement to help a patient who’s been sexually
abused by her father. Helene Eastland happens to be
Declan’s former girlfriend and governor’s daughter.
Helene is also deeply involved with the Operation
Jackpot “gentlemen” drug smugglers.
A collision of Low Country drug smuggling, political
power, the intimacy of the physician-patient relationship
and the Hippocratic Oath.
Will personal redemption cost an OB/GYN his career?
Declan Murphy becomes literature’s first OB/GYN action
hero
Mid-life Crisis: Webster’s Dictionary
“An emotional crisis of identity and self-
confidence that can occur in early middle age.”
Don’t believe I’ve ever had a crisis of identity as
an academic Ob-Gyn/MFM physician. I did
want to expand my identify as a writer and I’d
wanted to since the mid-1980s.
I have an annoying, if not obnoxious, level of
self-confidence that has never wavered.
I think I’ve missed “early middle age.”
Mid-life Crisis: Urban Dictionary
“When a person regrets how they have lived his or her life and they
attempt to “correct” their mental issue in a variety of ways which
usually harms themselves or those closest to them.”
At least consciously, I don’t have any major regrets in my life. If they
are deep seeded sub-conscious regrets do they really count?
My “mid-life crisis” was embarked on with the complete support
and enthusiastic participation of my wife, Diane. I’m told that a lot
of mid-life crises don’t go that way.
My two sons like the books but have some minor concerns about
my retirement fund balance.
My daughter likes the books but is hinky about the sex scenes.
Mid-life Crisis: Google Dictionary
“When a person begins to question their purpose and direction in life and oftentimes begins to regress back to their teenage years in how they think and act. They are usually laughed at by their peers because they make themselves look silly by acting younger than they are.”
I have questioned my direction in life. We like to say that medicine is an “art”, but it was beginning to me to feel like a “trade.” I wanted to do something creative.
Diane says that I’ve always thought and acted like a teenager.
My peers have almost exclusively expressed support and interest in my publishing of a novel. Many have indicated a desire to do the same one day.
I don’t discount that my peers might also be chuckling behind my back.
Mid-life Crisis: Wikipedia
“A transition of identity and self-confidence that can occur in middle age (usually 45-64 years old). A psychological crisis brought about by events that highlight a person’s growing age, inevitable mortality and possible shortcomings in life. May produce depression, remorse, anxiety or desire to achieve youthfulness or other drastic changes in lifestyle.”
Duh! I’ve got a mirror.
They left out thinning hair and the plastic box that separates your medication for each day of the week.
No matter what you do, mortality remains inevitable. What it interrupts is just different. Now I worry it will come for me before I finish the next book.
My Career Has Provided All The
Inspiration I’ve Needed
And this is one of
them.
OCCAM’S RAZOR : VARIETY STORE
OCCAM’S RAZOR
OCCAM’S RAZOR : KINGPINS
OCCAM’S RAZOR : Clarence “Don’t
Turn Nobody Down” McCants
OCCAM’S RAZOR South Carolina’s intra-coastal waterways and secluded
deep-water docks had become the on ramp to the east
coast drug superhighway
Two loosely inter-connected groups started selling pot
from a USC fraternity house in the mid 1970’s which grew
into a $700 million dollar marijuana and hashish
smuggling operation using luxury yachts and the Low
Country shrimping fleet.
The “Kingpins” of the two groups were brothers Les and
Roy Riley of Charleston and Barry “Flash” Foy and
Thomas “Rolex” Rhoads of Columbia and Barnwell
respectively.
“We all do, honey!”
OCCAM’S RAZOR : Captain Harry’s Blue
Marlin Bar
OCCAM’S RAZOR : SPOILS
Ronald and Nancy Reagan’s War on Drugs and new
federal anti-racketeering laws targeted the ill-gotten
gains of “continuing criminal enterprises”
Operation Jackpot seized 2 houses on the Intracoastal
Waterway in Cassina Plantation outside Charleston; 6
ocean front houses on Hilton Head; $160,000 COD in the
Bahamas; $344,000 from an attorney’s office; $147,000 in
an escrow account; 82 Queen Street, Poogan’s Porch, a
fleet of cars, yachts and shrimp boats
Roy Riley and the other “drug kingpins” were all facing
the potential “life imprisonment without the possibility of
parole”
OCCAM’S RAZOR : Disco Don Powe
OCCAM’S RAZOR : Gentlemen
Smugglers and USDA Henry McMaster
OCCAM’S RAZOR
TWO DRIFTERS
Published May 2016
by Moonshine Cove
TWO DRIFTERS
Medico-legal thriller: a cord prolapse Cesarean that
goes horribly wrong and two rootless and ruthless drifters
from Alabama show up in Declan Murphy’s exam room
with evil intention on the same night.
The death of his wife, Helene Eastland, has Declan
spiraling down a dark path of apathy and anger. His
clinical performance is being questioned.
Only his new lawyer, Rosemary Winslow, believes that
Declan Murphy may not be a negligent provider.
Declan is in and out of every bar from Charleston to
Lake Charles, La. Tracking down the true identity of
these Two Drifters
Trials and Tribulations: Putting Pen to
PaperHad completed my tenure as President of the
SMFM and member of Executive Board
My youngest, Sarah Haley, left for NYU in 2010
Passed over as Departmental Chair and
decided to not pursue other opportunities
Acute mid-life crisis?- What am I going to do
with my time?
Encouragement and writing advice from Dick
Berkowitz, M.D.
A great story I’d been sitting on for 25 years
Trials and Tribulations: Writing Timeline
Started writing in 2010 and finished 2 years later; working
mostly on Saturday and Sunday mornings with the EPL
Worked on trying to find a literary agent or publisher
between 2012 to 2014- which was far more frustrating
and humbling than the writing
Began looking at independent publishers in 2014 and
rapidly found Moonshine Cove Publishing (Abbeville, SC)
Occam’s Razor published July 2014
In July 2014, I took advantage of 30 years within the
state system and retired; working part time for University
Medical Associates
Two Drifters was written in one year and was published in
May 2016
Trials and Tribulations: Living With Rejection
Publishers no longer accept direct submissions.
Approximately 100 queries sent to literary agents about representing
my novel; no response from > 50%, majority of rest were terse (when was last time you got a white postcard?) and the rare critique were
harsh.
HarperCollins, my academic publisher, passed on my novel despite
the right of first refusal.
Sent manuscript to about 20 independent publishers before
Moonshine Cove became interested.
Independent publishers are far more interactive, encouraging and easier to peg their publishing interest.
Trials and Tribulations: Living With
Rejection
Trials and Tribulations: Living With Rejection
Bellvue Hospital Medical Press : “While we very much
liked your story, we found your writing style to be
terrible.”
They were right.
Joggling Board Press : Offered to publish my manuscript
if I took 6 to 12 months of writing lessons from the editor.
USC Press : Editor Jonathan Haupt liked the manuscript
but they had just started a new imprint, Story River
Books, edited by Pat Conroy but, unfortunately, he was
already swamped with submissions.
HOME SWEET HOME
WHY DO IT ?
The personal enjoyment of writing a good chapter,
paragraph, sentence or even finding a great word.
The joy of seeing it published.
The joy of knowing that other people embrace the
characters and are excited by the story.
The joy of talking with other authors about shared
experiences.
The joy of discussing some mid-life alternatives with a
group of my peers in Greenville.
The satisfaction that comes from a creative effort.
OCCAM’S RAZOR : AUTHOR
REVIEWS
“…artfully combines drug running, romance and the finer points of Obstetrics and Gynecology into a heck of a story based on real life events.” Jason Ryan author Jack-Pot: High Times, High Seas
“…lover’s desperate flight across a startling accurate tapestry, real people, real politics, real institutions, real honky-tonks, real neon, and sawdust and grit. It’s a wild and gratifying ride, y’all, well worth your money and time.” Roger Pinckney author Reefer Moon
“…a gripping thriller, a passionate love story and a hero’s journey that will keep pages turning and have you cheering…” Taylor Polities author The Rebel Wife
“First rate….strings the reader along shamelessly, virtually forcing the reader to pull an all-nighter!” Dr. Jeff Thurston author Death of Compassion
TWO DRIFTERS: AUTHOR
REVIEWS “Roger Newman serves up a super-rich gumbo of voodoo, intrigue
and incest from Charleston to Lake Charles. I couldn’t put it down.”
Roger Pinckney author of Reefer Moon, Blow the Man Down and
others.
“Get plenty of rest before you start reading Two Drifters. You won’t
be able to sleep until you finish this riveting novel.” Bill Noel author of Boneyard Beach, First Light and 8 other books in the Folly Beach
Mystery series.
“The revelation of multiple plots against him, his feelings of
abandonment and isolation, his budding romance and a string of
other heroes who join him on his march to the OK corral keeps the
reader tuned and anxious.” Jim Miller author of Kentucky Weed, Vienna and Stealing Ho Chi Minh’s Gold
Don’t Quit Your Day Job!
Very little financial joy: 10% royalty on the first 1,000
books ; 20% on second 1,000 and 30% after 2,000. I am
proud to say that I am a hundredaire two times over.
I can buy copies at half price for resale to individuals or
bookstores
Independent publishers do no advertising or promotion.
Nor do they supply bookstores because they will not
take back unsold books.
In the words of Glengarry Glen Ross, “It’s all about the
ABCs. If you want to be successful you have to Always
Be Closing.”
Don’t Quit Your Day Job!
THE FUTUREContinue working part time at MUSC : book sales don’t
pay the bills.
The third novel in the Declan Murphy trilogy, What
Becomes (corporate corruption, environmental
contamination and murder)to be published in July 2018.
Have completed the 4th Edition of When You’re
Expecting Twins, Triplets and Quads with Dr. Barbara
Luke and Tamara Eberlein published in 2017 by
HarperCollins
Have started a new, currently untitled, book which will
be entirely different- a Civil War blockade runner thriller
Have a irascible medical blog, Post Scripts, published at
rogerbnewman.com
OCCAM’S RAZOR/ TWO
DRIFTERS/ WHAT BECOMES
Amazon, Kindle, Barnes and Noble
and scattered bookstores
Website : www.RogerBNewman.com
Moonshine Cove Publishing, LLC
26th C.M. Easley Symposia and Resident
Research Day: Many thanks and great
research presentations
