I wanna be Dr. Seuss! Only snarkier...

Oh, the Places You'll Go!

Like a zillion other graduates across the country, I got that Dr. Seuss classic when I was graduating from college - and soon on my way to medical school.

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.

And steer I did - in many a brainy and footsy direction. Medical school, pediatrics residency, multiple fellowships, some truly wonderful and fulfilling faculty positions teaching at New York area universities. But still, there was something in me just waiting - waiting for

a pair of pants, a wig with curls, or Another Chance....

Well, actually, not pants or wigs. But I was waiting for Another Chance - a chance to find my Writerly Voice.

For many years, I was Very Patient and was waiting for my Writerly Voice to arrive, care of UPS or FEDEX or maybe just USPS, so that I could get on writing my Great Novel. Because of course my Great Novel would be Very Serious and cover Very Serious Topics like health care, immigration, race, family, gender, justice, education and the meaning of the universe.

Except for one tiny problem. Although I do care deeply about Very Serious Topics like health care, immigration, race, family, gender, justice, education and the meaning of the universe, I'm not actually a Very Serious Person. And I read far more children's literature, Dr. Seuss included, than any Very Serious Person should perhaps do. And so I continued waiting. And waiting. Until, suddenly, I met my best friend from second grade after about twenty years. And on a whim, over gluten free pancakes, suggested that we write a novel. Not The Very Serious Novel, but a fanciful, romp-a-licious middle grade novel. And after that novel, I wrote another. And suddenly, I had escaped ...all that waiting and staying. And found the bright places where Boom Bands are playing.

Because the name of my personal Boom Band is children's literature.

So what my day job is A Bit Serious? After all, Dr. Seuss was a dentist. And I can't think of A More Serious Topic than Oral Hygeine. Except maybe the meaning of the universe. Even still...

So I begin this blog to document the journey of a kids doc into kids literature.

And so...

though the weather be foul, my enemies prowl, and Hakken-Kraks howl,

I hope against hope I succeed.

98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.