Hi Dr. Kathleen,

I am impressed with your knowledge and more because of your writing penchant.

Hi Kathleen! thanks for your wonderful responses to my questions - very inspiring! thank you for adding me onto your she writes page. I am looking forward to reading more of your posts about your books which sound fascinating!

Hi Kathleen, it is good to see another physician here - there may be others that I am unaware of - I am a physician too - fresh out of residency in Internal Medicine and Preventive Medicine. I am also interested in cancer prevention and set to start a fellowship at NCI in June 2011. I think it is great that you are writing both fiction and non-fiction! I have enjoyed reading your posts. How have you pursued writing creatively within the context of your profession? Do you find it to be difficult or have you found a way to make the two worlds mesh? The nonfiction makes sense as you are writing about a cancer virus but how about the fiction? How do you find support for that in your world?

Congratulations on your completed chapters on your new novel. It's exciting to see them unfold!

Kathleen, I just opened the door to the novelist group for you - welcome! Hope you'll find all the support you're looking for.

:-)

You might introduce yourself by telling us what you’re working on in the “Show Me Your Novel and I’ll Show You Mine” discussion if you're not too uncomfortable talking about what you're working on. I’ll look forward to chatting with you!

Meg Waite Clayton
Novelist Group Moderator
Author of the national bestseller The Wednesday Sisters and the forthcoming The Four Ms. Bradwells (Ballantine, March 2011)

Thank you for your response and for your kind words of caution! It is refreshing to hear another speak of dangers online! She is very interested in writing and wants to find others who share her passion. Her membership with SW is something I have to carefully consider. Perhaps initials and a caricature photos might be the way to go given that she is quite young and NEW to any social media. Although I am not ready for either of us to jump into this with both feet, yet. It may be a learning adventure we can do together when summer comes.

Again, thank you for your response. You may hear from me again soon. Thanks, Mary

Dr. Ruddy --

I have a 10 year old daughter who writes for the elementary school newspaper and attends a weekly writing class. She is very interested in writing (and is good) as well as basketball and other girl stuff. We are discussing her membership on She Writes as she is interested in the memoirs and fiction Girls Write groups on SW. I am a member of She Writes - I am looking for your advice on on how I should proceed with encouraging her writing and putting her in contact with mentors who will help her grow! And - is she too young to be on She Writes?

Thanks, Mary
mk@mkeat.com

Dr. Ruddy,

I just joined the Girls Write Poetry group...I am not near 18 anymore, but I would love to contribute to reading and mentoring when this group grows. Poetry has been my genre of choice since I was 9, and I want to encourage its writing in the next group of girls to write. Poetry has changed, moved, and informed my life, and I would love to share that. Hope it was ok to join. Thanks! AnnaBeth

Dear Dr. Ruddy,

So glad to have you here on She Writes; I was very moved by reading your status updates about your granddaughter. Do you know that She Writes is partnered with Girls Write Now, an organization dedicated to mentoring the next generation of women writers? You can join the GWN group on the site to find out more. I am on the Advisory Board and am blown away by the power and importance of the work.

Warm best and more soon,
Kamy