Monday, July 29, 2013  Writing fiction  I've been writing for a
long time.  I was an English major in college, and my current
position requires a fair amount of writing.  I write and revise
curricula.  I write resident and medical student evaluations.  I
peer review for a couple of journals.  I've even published a few
articles.  One of the things that I had always fantasized about
writing, though, was fiction.  I am a decent medical writer, I
think, and I figured that would translate to fiction writing at
least a little bit.  Not so much, it turns out.  About a year
ago I joined a local writers' group to try my hand at writing
non-medical pieces.  And, even though I intellectually knew that
I was in for quite a challenge, I had no idea just how much.
 Writing fiction calls for a whole new skill set - developing
believable characters, compelling plots, rich settings, and,
strong dialogue.  I am having a lot of fun learning, though, and
the other writers have been patient, honest teachers.  I learned
to play th