I suspect, then, that my desire to write and tell stories was present at a young age. I would write an essay for school or a story at home and immediately hand it in or toss it aside, assuming that was the end. It is a question prompted by a recent fellowship interview, when an interviewer asked me: Why do you write? And what drives a physician (and there are many physician-writers) to write? In that sense, I write with a historical impulse, “to see things as they are.” What is medicine really like?