Dec 4, 2009

Blogging Fatigue (Friday Links)

Blogging can be an exhausting thing~ Doctor D is pretty familiar with exhaustion these days between doctoring, husbanding, fathering, and blogging.

Don't worry, this isn't one of those hiatus posts. AskAnMD is still going strong, but one of the web's favorite medbloggers Dr. Rob decided to throw in the towel this week. He was always an interesting read and will be much missed. Also D will now never be able to figure out that dudes odd obsession with lamas.

Blogs don't last forever, although there is always the hope Rob's blog will have a resurrection like Nurse K's and Ella the Med Student's have.

Fortunately amazing new bloggers are always appearing:

The new link this week is Medical Moments in 55 words! Word Doc is an internist who tells medical stories in short 55 word posts. The stories are both funny and poignant, and best of all they take less than a minute to read. So go check out Word Doc. Doctor D guarantees you won't be disappointed!
I'm really impressed with the brevity of Word Doc's posts. The shortness doesn't take any power at all from her stories. Should Doctor D try to answer your questions in 55 words for a while?

8 comments:

WarmSocks said...

Medical Moments in 55 Words is GREAT! Thanks.

As for brevity... take all the words you need to answer questions.

Helen said...

Thanks for the link - I love it and can't wait to read more.

And I agree with WarmSocks - be as wordy as you need to be!

Anonymous said...

I really like this blog. Writing scenes with that sort of brevity takes talent and real patience. Thanks for the link. But I think your posts are just right, too. They're as long or short as they need to be, and no more. Have a great weekend, Dr. D.
-Wren

Anonymous said...

These are great kernels of stories, and yet frustrating too. They remind me of the whole "flash fiction" and "sudden fiction" craze (stories of one page or less), which always left me feeling like I heard just an echo, not the real thing, or saw just a glimpse of a scene out of a bus window. In my book, more is more. I really like it that you don't confine your answers to brief comments. It takes some space to explain the workings and contradictions and subtleties of medical care.

Very sorry to hear about Dr. Rob and glad this wasn't a hiatus post. You scared me there!

WordDoc said...

I appreciate the link and kind words. On average, I am Our Lady of Excessive Modifiers, so this 55 word experiment is both a pleasure and an exercise. I found the 140 characters of Twitter impossible, but will continue other wordier blogs as well as the 55 flash non-fiction approach. Best wishes, glad to know you!

Doctor D said...

You know, I've never been a fan of "flash fiction" either. I always felt the super-short literary genre was contrived and gimmicky.

If I had only heard of Word Doc's blog without seeing it I doubt I would have expected to like it. But reading it I was really impressed! She really does capture the spirit of the moments in a way that I find satisfying.

I won't constrain myself to any 55 word answers. But I am beginning to realize I have this inner Herman Melville that needs to be tamed in order to blog properly.

Anonymous said...

Anon. 6:12 here again. Let me add that, despite my alleged frustration, I did bookmark the WordDoc site and expect to enjoy reading more stories there even if they do make my brain explode with the unspoken possibilities! Last night I thought of them as perhaps a fulsome sort of haiku, a very "less is more" structure that, perversely, I really like.

I am grateful to all doctors who write at any length!

Maha said...

Great recommendation!

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