Blog of a young-ish writer

If anyone has seen peep show, they know that it is known for it's wity and satirical social commentary as well as some truly obscene set pieces. There is one particular scene from series 5 that I have never forgotten, and recite to myself even today.

Jeremy, a dreamer who has the firm belief that he will one day "make it" as a succesful musician is having a minor breakdown, whilst being consoled by his more strait-laced and dogmatic housemate Mark. And then he utters these superb lines.

" Mark what if I'm not in the 0.01% of people who think they're going to make it and are going to be make it, but I'm actually in the 99.9% of people who think they're going to make it, but are actually dicks?"

Harrowing words, and especially today it speaks volumes to me, especially as a I embark on this treacherous quest to seek the Holy Grail of writing, and have a my book published.


My name is Steven. Like many people I love writing and being creative. Growing up, writing was the only thing I was ever good at, and that is by no means an exaggeration. But my parents being very strict, saw my writing as nothing more than a fanciful delusion of mine, and told me that writers never made it anywhere, not in this world. So I bundled off to med school, and I now find myself in my 4th year and 21 years old, looking at the past few years and wondering if it was all a terribly good idea.

Recently I had had one of those quarter life crises and I took a good hard look in the mirror and I asked myself, is this truly what I wanted in life? To become a drone of the NHS and endlessly rote learn things. I am by no means undermining the medical profession, though in truth the profession needs no defending. But I knew that it was my passion for creativity, for writing that meant I could never be more than a mediocre doctor, but I could perhaps become a great writer.

It all became apparent when the day before my big exam when everyone was cramming and learning last minutes notes, I had instead had a sleepless night coming up with the plot of novel. And in the morning instead of revising, i spent 2 hours writing a brief outline of the story I wanted to write.

Then on my medical elective to cuba and mexico, whilst others were getting merry on mohitos and learning Spanish medicine, i instead found myself feverishly completing my manuscript on an old laptop my father had lent me.

So as I returned to England 2 months later, I had a rough first draft, then another month to heavily edit my scrawl. The finished product? The Moon Finale, a love labour about a 13 year old girl named Lizzie Thompson. On her young shoulders rested my hopes and dream for the future.

I believe in myself. But will anyone else? I can never forget Jez's words. Am I in the 99.9% of people who are destined not to make it?

But for me there was never a choice. As soon as these characters came to life, I had no choice but to pen their story. And I believe that's the truth. This is not my story. It is their story. And it deserves to be told.

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So I bundled off to med school, and I now find myself in my 4th year and 21 years old, looking at the past few years and wondering if it was all a terribly good idea.

Does med school mean something different where you are? How did you manage to reach your 4th year of it at age 21? That age is even a bit early for most people to finish their undergraduate studies. And I thought 25 was the age for the quarter-life crisis. Are you early with that, too?

Not saying you're a troll, but...

LC,

The new term has just started; Steve completed the first three years (18-19, 19-20, 20-21), and will finish in 2011 or 2012 (MBChB) (22 or 23 years old).

Steve,

Would-be writers have to learn that no other book will ever match their own, no matter how badly they write. No book can give you the clarity of vision that your own characters do and you cannot have the same control over plot and storyline as you do over your own stories. Poor writers enjoy their own stories and mistakenly believe that readers will enjoy their work to the same extent.

You should ask your fellow students to read your stories and give you honest feedback. Put your work online (arctic-monkeys-like) and see what the response is. If you don't gain a following, then it is doubtful that you will make it as an author.

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The new term has just started; Steve completed the first three years (18-19, 19-20, 20-21), and will finish in 2011 or 2012 (MBChB) (22 or 23 years old).

The first three years of what? 18 years old is an undergraduate freshman, not a med student, unless you're a prodigy.

There are several ways of studying medicine in the UK. The older universities with medical schools offer five year courses to pupils directly from secondary schools (starting their degrees at the age of eighteen). The first two years are the equivalent of a three-year BSc undergraduate program. The following three years are for surgical study leading to the ChB:

http://www.leeds.ac.uk/medicine/undergrad.html

"We surveyed all first year undergraduate medical students in 2007. The average age was 19 years"
Reflective learning for the net generation student
Christopher Murray and Dr. John Sandars, Medical Education Unit, University of Leeds

thanks I know that that is the terrible pitfall. Of course I believe what i've written is amazing, because i wrote it.

I look around and I see many other would be writers, and I cannot claim that I am any different from them.

thanks for the site, I will go and take a look, great idea!

errr to the others about med school, im guessing you're american or canadian?

In England we do A levels from 16-18 then med school is 5 years from 18-23 and therefore most newly qualified doctors are around 23-24

whats the name of the website? I typed in arctic monkeys like and all I got were alot of hits about the band arctic monkeys.