Writing short stories

 For a change, this year I plan to focus on short stories. I started with The Final Puzzle in 2017 and published it in 2019. In 2020, I published The Empress's Guilt, not quite a novella but longer than a short story. Both were immensely satisfying to research and write.

I am working on a couple of longer stories now. "Why did my doctor leave?" is intended to be a satire dealing with physician turnover, physician burnout, and physician suicide, problems that have yet to sink into the general public consciousness. These are problems that cannot be ignored since they affect the very safety net of society. When your healthcare providers are killing themselves, something is critically wrong. The motto "Physician heal thyself" implies that physicians are responsible for their health issues. They are not. Like most people, physicians get trapped in the system. Physician suicide and physician burnout are system issues. I am hoping my story, whether it turns out to be i.e. novel, novella etc will highlight these problems with empathy.

The second story is called "Karna's redemption". The premise of this story is this: What if Draupadi married Karna? Would Kurukshetra have happened? Was war unavoidable?

Writing provides a great outlet for me. I cannot wait to get home after work, spend some time with my daughter and then find some "me" time to write. Stephen King calls writing "self-hypnosis". I completely agree.

So this year, I have decided to write more short stories as fillers between " Karna's redemption" and "Why did my doctor leave?"

Here is a list of classic short stories I intend to read and review. Of these, I am familiar with the last 2 stories. The Ransom of Red Chief is one of the funniest stories I have read.

1. The most dangerous game

2. The Lady and the Tiger

3. The celebrated jumping frog of Calaveras county

4. The Necklace

5. The Pit and the Pendulum

6. The Fall of the House of Usher

7. The ransom of the Red Chief

8. The Gift of Magi

Other notable mentions:

The ones who walk away from Omelas

I will be emailing my short stories periodically to those who would like to read them.