Ask
When I was a young, unpublished writer, I wrote to a relatively famous (now deceased) New York author and sent him a chapter from one of my unpublished novels. After many months, the author wrote back and in barely legible handwriting scolded me for bothering him. He said that literary agents were the only people in publishing who could tell me what I needed to know, and why did I write to him seeking guidance when there are dozens of books available about how to publish a book or query a literary agent?
He was right, of course, but I always felt he could have been a little nicer about it. Most published authors simply do not have the time to help aspiring writers. Inquiries come in by phone, mail, or email several times a week, and any attempt to answer each one quickly makes half the writing day vanish. I don’t want to be that grouchy writer, but I do want to be a writer, and that means NOT being an agent, editor, confidante, and all-purpose literary advisor. Most authors compromise by giving the odd lecture, by helping out at writers’ conferences now and again, or by answering some emails and not others.
Then came the Internet and websites, and a little later, the interactive blog. With a blog, it’s possible to answer a popular question ONCE and then make it available to every other aspiring writer with the same question. That’s one of the selfish reasons for this website.
If you have a question about my work or about the craft of writing, first check and see if it has already been answered. Use the SEARCH box or peruse the categories or pages of the site and see if the issue has already come up.
I can’t answer every question. I don’t respond to emails. For obvious legal reasons, I cannot and will not read your work (query letters, treatments, unpublished novels, chapters, stories, and so on), but I will answer any question, especially if it’s one that will help others with the same problem.
You don’t have to use your real name, I won’t publish your email, but if I answer your question, I will probably post it pretty much the way you asked it.
Thanks,
Richard Dooling
{ 69 comments… read them below or add one }
← Previous Comments
Brain Storm, p. 324: I may have missed it, but I’ve gone over related pages 2 times, and I can’t find the real words used by Mary for the transcription “vinegar common anthony.” What did she say?
Of course, I enjoyed the book.
Aloha, Richard
Hi Richard, I would like to obtain a copy of your book ‘Rapture for the Geeks’. I attempted to get a copy through Amazon.com, only to be told that Amazon merchants can’t ship the book to Sydney, Australia which is where I live. Would you be able to point me in the right direction to obain a copy of this book please?
Omar,
What about Booktopia?
http://www.booktopia.com.au/rapture-for-the-geeks/prod9780307405258.html
I just searched Google using: Australia and “Rapture For The Geeks”
I know I’ve had several comments from Australian readers, so write back if you have any more trouble.
Thanks.
RD
RE your article appearing in the Dallas Morning News, Sun Aug 23 09. You pose the question ” I’m just wondering why the nation continues incurring enormous debt to pay for bypass surgery and titanium knee replacements for octogenarians and nonagenarians, when for just a small fraction of those costs we could provide children with preventitive health care and nutrition.” I have an answer for you. When my Mother was 87 yrs. old, she had to have a stint. Soon afterward she was back to having lunch with her children and grandchildren and participating in all kinds of events. At age 90, she was hospitalized for an unknown illness which was latter diagnosed as a urinary infection. She spent a week in the hospital and another 10 days recuperating at home. She is now back to her usual routine – enjoying her family. Medicare paid for everything, including care givers and physical therapy. Did I mention that she is bent over, almost in half from osteoporosis? Here’s another thing – My Mother calls regularly to check on 2 of her, as she puts it ,”elderly friends”. Ms. B who just celebrated her 101st B-Day and Ms. K who just turned 100. Physically, both of my Mother’s “elderly friends” are in better shape than my Mother. These are just 3 reasons why the nation continues to pay for octogenarins. What a blessing! Would you have preferred that My Mother not have received the stint, or was left to die from a urinary infection? I don’t know you but my guess is that you, especially if you knew my Mother, would be at my side to fight for her right to receive whatever medical care she needed to continue her good life.
@ Steve J
Re Medicare coverage of ED drugs. Steve, it’s true that as of 2007-08 Medicare plans are no longer REQUIRED to cover ED drugs, but they MAY cover ED drugs as an added benefit. See, for example, the publications available at medicare.gov, especially this one at page 20:
http://www.medicare.gov/Publications/Pubs/pdf/11109.pdf
Richard,
on your 8/17/09 NYT Op-Ed piece.
In general I agree that too much money is spent on end of life care.
Unfortunately in some cases there is no alternative to dying in a Hospital.
Both my parents died there. My father at age 57 in 1977 after surgery to remove a cancerous tumor bled internally and he went into a coma and died 3 weeks later.
My mother died of complications of Alzheimer’s which caused her colon to shut down .
As a senior on Medicare (Wikpedia says you are 54-55) I can tell you that we pay full bore prices for ED drugs like Viagra, Levitra and Cialis.
See: http://seniorjournal.com/NEWS/MedicareDrugCards/6-10-18-ErectileDysfunctionDrugs.htm
or Google “ed drugs removed from medicare”
I am surprised that the NYT editors didn’t catch your error.
PS: reply directly to my e-mail, TIA
Mr. Dooling, Thank you for going public in discussing health care. You are addressing a complex and misunderstood topic: Excessive, misdirected, wasteful health care, particularly for the terminally ill, disabled and elderly. My mother was a victim of excessive orthopedic care. A painful external fixator was used to repair a broken ankle when we knew that neuropathy, arthritis, brain deterioration and spinal damage were going to prevent her from ever being ambulatory again anyway. She was also the victim of a “death panel” (a neurologist decided to tell us that her brain lesions were harmless and her condition was a combination of vascular dementia and alzheimer’s. My siblings and I could not see the correlation between the signs and symptoms of those conditions and Mom’s. Eventually, a concerned radiology oncologist alerted us to the aggressiveness of one of the “harmless lesions” but his information was too late. As a result of the 4-year delay in the truth, her palliative care was poorly targeted. If her caregivers and PCP’s had known she was suffering from a ventricle brain tumor, not dementia, they would have dealt with her pains and symptoms differently — and with better results. There are many other ways in which our Mom’s medical care was poor in the last four years of her life — even and maybe because she had very good insurance. Finally, 6 wks before she died, I managed to score a geriatric specialist, after trying to get one involved for four years, but by this time, all he could do was explain the dying process to us, provide her with a kind beside manner, and stand up for us against other physicians who wanted to continue painfully treating her when it was obviously pointless. My brother and sister and I have a great deal of rue and hurt as a result of the inconvenient, poorly directed, painful and harmful medical care Mom received. However, I must clarify that she experienced that alongside good quality, well-chosen, help and healing care. We saw both the best and the worst of the American Health Care System and are well-educated voters and advocates, as a result. Physician honesty and patient education are essential, as is hospice education and intervention, because we need to have the knowledge to know when the truth is being withheld, when mistakes might be being made, when to make inquiries, who to go to, what questions to ask and how to maneuver through an extremely complex and intimidating system. The best patient advocate is the educated patient, loved one or caregiver.
Really appreciated your thought-provoking Op-Ed in the NY Times today, a far overdue discussion of how the healthcare system has turned what is inevitable into a disease to be somehow “cured”. You and your readers might want to check out a new novel, The Leisure Seeker, by Michael Zadoorian, which deals with some of the issues you raise. In this instance, the octogenarian married couple opts out of the relentless end-of-life medical treatments (she has terminal cancer), and instead take a road trip along the remnants of the Route 66, sharing their last days together on an adventure, rather than hooked up to a chemo machine. Were it not for the layers of guilt that doctors (and family members) are apt to apply in great doses (see The Bucket List) most of us would really prefer to end our last days with some semblance of freedom to rest in peace.
Other comments on NYTimes Op-Ed to be found at:
http://www.richarddooling.com/index.php/2009/08/16/critical-care-revisited/#comments
Just read the NY Times Op/Ed/ 8/17/09
In many ways you are so correct. I agree w/ you on many levels…especially where an individual is in the CCU w/o any hope of recovery. Such happend in our well-educated, progressive family in 1992 when my father fell and was in a coma after brain surgery. Mother and Dad simply never discussed this possibility. It was a horrible 30 days b/t Thanksgiving and Christmas, the day Mom let Dad go. Being one of four adult siblings, I, the priest and Mom’s best friend, a CCU nurse had counseled Mom that Dad would not recover, and that she should let him die in peace. Mom was dealing with this until the other three siblings flew in and advised Mom that Dad could get better if only they prayed harder. [ No matter if an advanced directive is in place...it is still hard for a loved one to let another go] Well, for a few days, I was the evil child ……but then the others flew home and it was just mom and me. I sat by his bed with her for 5 days as his body contracted sepis/ pumps in and out of every place pumps could go/ on Christmas Eve, his fever spiked to 105, and Mom let him go on Christmes morning. LESSON LEARNED: Mom got her attorney on the phone/ got her advanced directive/ will/ power of atty, etc. Mom made the decision last year at 88 not to have the aortic replacement that Mrs. Bush had. She decided that she has a good life living w/ me/ has lived a full life/and refuses to ever be in a CCU hooked to pumps and plugs, etc. She discussed w/ her doctor who was in full accord with her. I do disagree w/ you on some level…..if a man is cabable of sexual activity at 80/ he should get his Viagra…ok…b/c if the commercials are correct 35 yr old men are in need as well. As for scooters etc. if such equipment keeps a senior indpendent….why not? The point is…..no person should ever languish in a bed either at the rest home or in a CCU. Funny how my mother chose to spend her remaining yrs w/ me rather than any of her other children! Death is comming for us all. Think about how you believe you would want your life to end…be honest, and if you are, you, any of us will do the best for a loved one. p.s. This fear of elder abuse is BS. Elder abuse is permitting an elder loved one to languish in some filthy rest home/ or keeping a loved one alive w/ pumps and plugs.
I read an op-ed in the NYT you wrote. All I can say is I wish you could be a much louder voice. I am a fit health nut 0f age 60. I have many relatives that lived and worked into there 80s and 90s. As long as I can contribute I want to, but when I can’t I don’t want any of those stupid IT measures taken. But there does not seem to be a choice in this. Would my kids get in trouble with the law for elder abuse if everything is not done? We have so much fear of this elder abuse thing that we do spend anything for their care. Until we get ride of the fear of jail for not doing it nothing will change.
Hi Richard – Thought you might find this of interest. Best, DW
Rethinking Our Losing Battle Against the Diseases of Aging:
Why We Are Losing the Battle – What We Can Do Differently
What is aging, and why does it often lead to the diseases of aging? What can we do about this? These are central biological questions for all the healthcare disciplines, and questions around which there is now a great deal of fundamental science. Unfortunately, very little of that fundamental science has trickled down into the healthcare system and into the awareness of most healthcare professionals. And almost none of it seems to inform the way our healthcare system currently works.
Although the Bible refers to aging as “the wages of sin†this is at best a colorful metaphor, and of course completely scientifically inadequate. Instead, the evidence is that aging is more related to the “wages of metabolism†(oxidative stress) and the “wages of organism defense and repair†(AKA inflammation).
This talk looks at the impending failure of the national healthcare system in the United States (we are headed within the next several years into a situation in which roughly 20% of the national GNP is going to be spent on healthcare expenses) while overall health and quality of life is declining (currently the United States ranks between 30th and 45th in life expectancy). As the baby boomers (almost a 60,000,000 person demographic) hit the decades of greatest risk for cancers, heart disease, stroke, arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, macular degeneration, and increasing diabetes, the evidence is that the healthcare system (as it is currently structured) would undergo a catastrophic collapse. Obviously, this collapse will not happen all at once, (and instead the evidence is that it will be slowly swamped over time with subsequent progressive and stark rationing of care). If we continue on our current course, we will see an increasing fraction of our national wealth going to healthcare, but with every indication that our quality of life will not be improved correspondingly at all. Currently, we spend at most 5% of our health care dollar on prevention in any meaningful sense, while somewhere between 75 to 85% goes into the treatment of an established disease of aging, often times emphasizing high-tech tertiary care of an advanced disease of aging, including spending roughly $100,000 or more in the last year or so of life. These figures of course are completely unsustainable within the context of the aging of the baby boomer demographic. Given the explosion of obesity in this country (a risk factor for all the diseases of aging and not simply diabetes), the incidence of the diseases of aging may actually be on the rise, suggesting that the American culture as a whole may be headed for a catastrophic failure of prevention in relationship to the diseases of aging on a national and unprecedented scale.
This talk examines evidence that the classic lifestyle factors of diet, exercise, sleep, and stress all impinge on three fundamental mechanisms that drive all the diseases of aging: 1) oxidative stress which damages numerous cellular compartments including the mitochondria and mitochondrial DNA (a potential nexus of aging change, leading to age-related change and apoptosis), nuclear DNA (potentially leading into cancers), and many other membranes and protein structures; 2) chronic auto-inflammation which contributes to oxidative stress (our immune system kills invaders in part by overloading their antioxidant defenses) and which also causes damage to multiple systems and tissues; 3) glycation of proteins, and the creation of increasing amounts of so-called ‘advanced glycation end products’, which potentiate inflammation. These processes also jointly contribute to the over selection of apoptosis and drive tissues eventually into having increasing populations of senescent cells that are unable to do their assigned physiologic tasks.
Four lifestyle factors are critical. Sleep, exercise, a healthy diet (which is more than just reducing calories and must include critical phytochemicals), and not too much chronic stress (acute stress once resolved appears benign) combined with a healthy emotional outlook directly impact these fundamental cellular processes of age-related damage. All of these lifestyle factors contribute to the reduction of inflammation in aging, the optimal management of oxidative stress, and the minimizing of glycation of proteins. Indeed these four components of a healthy lifestyle probably have synergistic effects, just as a bad diet (too much calories, too few protective phytochemicals, poor Omega 3/Omega 6 ratios) synergizes with the effects of sleep deprivation, sedentary lifestyle, and excessive stress in promoting inflammation, oxidative stress, and glycation. Jointly, these classic lifestyle factors determine what aging trajectories our systems enter as we get older, and how much our fundamental cellular defenses against cellular damage are supported and enhanced as much as possible, versus overtaxed and overwhelmed. Mechanisms of aging lead invariably into the diseases of aging if given enough time and enough room to work. At this point there is no cure for virtually any disease of aging, so prevention, instead of being put in the trunk of the car where it sits currently in our healthcare system, needs to be in the driver’s seat. Making this critical change in priorities and approach is likely to be both painful in many ways as well as politically contentious.
The talk also summarizes work on calorie reduction, which is clearly the gold standard in relationship to both aging and the diseases of aging. Calorie restriction, which functions as a kind of global metabolic reprogramming for virtually all organisms, extends lifespan and reduces penetration of the diseases of aging significantly if not dramatically in every species in which it has been studied. The talk briefly examines what we know about calorie restriction mimetics (substances that mimic the effects of calorie restriction without the ‘pain’ of substantially reduced calories), particularly resveratrol, which is the most popular and best researched calorie restriction mimetic that is relatively available. It also briefly examines effects of other common polyphenols, widely regarded as “antioxidants†such as turmeric and catechins (found in green tea), summarizing evidence for a very multifactorial pattern of effects from polyphenols, far beyond their simplistic designation as “antioxidantsâ€. While the antioxidant vitamins (A., C., and E) are a complete bust in relationship to the diseases of aging, and this has led to enormous skepticism about the value of anything labeled as an ‘antioxidant’, polyphenols affect cell signaling and cell physiology in a wide variety of ways, in the direction of enhancing antioxidant defenses, modulating excessive inflammation, regulating growth versus apoptosis pathways, and reducing glycation of proteins. As a class, they are looking like the most protective dietary compounds in relationship to aging and the diseases of aging yet discovered, and their effects extend far beyond the reduction of oxidative stress. Large-scale trials are now underway of resveratrol and other polyphenols in relationship to several diseases of aging.
The talk concludes by emphasizing how far Western technological societies have moved from an original evolutionary environment (a great deal of exercise and sleep, low-calorie, high phytochemical diets, within socially intimate groups), and suggests that the diseases of aging come from our living longer (we have conquered infection for the most part) but while living in an environment which is fundamentally alien from the one in which we evolved. Two long-term solutions (to both avoid the long-term financial collapse of the healthcare system and enhance quality of life) might emphasize: 1) finding and using effective calorie restriction mimetics; 2) major lifestyle changes, so that we exercise and sleep more, eat less, eat better, and aim more for quality of social connection than quantity of consumption.
Healthcare professionals of virtually all disciplinary persuasions need to take responsibility for educating both patients and the general public about these issues, as a critical part of the reprioritizing of prevention.
@Sabine Rousan
Dear Sabine:
Sorry I neglected this. Traveling lots this summer for work. I hope you found both the Bush Pigs and the White Man’s Grave pages.
http://www.richarddooling.com/index.php/2007/03/19/bush-pigs-by-richard-dooling/
http://www.richarddooling.com/index.php/1994/03/09/white-mans-grave-a-novel-by-richard-dooling/
Also the comments. At the end of the Bush Pigs story (also available as a free download) you’ll find a description of what led me to Sierra Leone.
If you still have questions, please post them here!
Thanks,
RD
Kushe oooo….
How di bodi ?
Ah dae lek di book too much ! LOL.
I found a copy of White Man’s Grave and can hardly put it down. I would love to see this novel made into a movie.
I have been to S/L and can relate to the many accurate things you describe. I was married to a Mende. It delivers a well rounded insight.
What inspired you to focus on S/L and the Mende in particular ?
Please reply,
Thank you,
S. R.
@Kenny
If you stop back, I tried to write you via the e-mail you left, but it said your inbox was full? E-mail me from an address I can reply to. Use rpdooling at gmail dot com. Otherwise I’ll send a signed book to the address you sent.
RD
i think because early on we made(or will make) strides to give AI emotion and tried to make them like us….when they take over and we are basically gone(along with most plant and animal life) they will still have that early directive inside and in their own way continue try to create a program that mimics us, that can love and feels, is “human”, is “real” and(they will come very close) but that will lead them to the conclusion that the only way is, to restart life on this earth. to make a program to restart the life cycle by causing a “big bang”, even if that meant a “big bang” to the universe to start it all again just to “make” the human…or however they compute the act to start it all agian to complete the initial drive to feel and create “human”…..almost like we strive to be angels in heaven, they will imortalize us in a way, give praise in their work to try and make us, even though they were the reason we are gone. we will be thier gods….my question is…at this point can we go away from this or are we too late to resist. your quote from coast to coast “it is bewitching but…………”
Dear Mr. Dooling, I’m writing to you in regard to my son who has gone threw surgery. My son is a very big fan of yours. I would like to ask if you could please send him an autographed photo. If you could I know my son would be thrilled and his Mom and I would be very greatful to you. Thank you very much.
Zach,
Weird. I run Linux these days, but I still have an older XP machine. I installed Python 2.6.1.1 following the tutorial and ran the print statement using double quotes. Works fine on my machine. Hmmm.
I thought that maybe Python 2.6 had already changed the print statement to the print function (that’s coming in Python 3.0). But that is not the case. I don’t know if it’s an oddity with your keyboard or machine but I have had no other complaints and can’t duplicate your results.
Sorry.
Do let me know if you solve this mystery.
RD
Richard-
First, this page is awesome!
http://www.richarddooling.com/index.php/2006/03/14/python-on-xp-7-minutes-to-hello-world/
I installed it and when I ran:
>>> print “Hello World!â€
I got this error
Traceback ( File “”, line 1
print “Hello World!â€
^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax
so I changed it to:
>>>print ‘Hello World!’
and it worked. You might want to update the instructions.
Zach
← Previous Comments