medicine

Author Intrusion

As a writer, one always questions if a character is being true to their own nature or whether the author is projecting his or her own moral belief system or code of action upon them.

To be clear, you don’t want the latter. That’s called Author Intrusion. 1

Sometimes, however, it seems impossible to keep the author’s world from encroaching on their writing. And when it happens to me, I try to mitigate its effects by relegating it to the world of research.

This week’s topic of research has been healthcare.2

Continue reading →

On Death

Pardon me while I get maudlin…

Yesterday, I read this in the 1930 diary I have: Had 16 little piglets today, but the old mother laid on 4 and killed them.

This made me sad. Especially if you’ve seen the cute piglet pictures I posted here. But it also got me thinking about how common death is, especially on a farm. And especially in the 1930s.

Well, it’s not a giant leap from cute piggies dying to human mortality… Continue reading →

Prescription Required

Not too long ago, I joked about putting a little whiskey in my tea to help fight a cold I was battling. Truth is, people have been using alcohol as medicine since the Middle Ages (a drop of gin was believed to ward off the plague, a glug of wine could defend the body from corruption, and a sip of absinthe would rid the body of roundworms), even though there is scientific evidence that not only does it not help, it is often detrimental. What you may not realize, however, is what this interesting bit of trivia has to do with Prohibition… or Rose. Continue reading →