Abraham Verghese, author of ‘Cutting for Stone,’ describes his writing life

I realize, as I read that last sentence, that this sounds like a passive and unambitious strategy. That is not so. I dream of incredible things happening for each book I write: prizes, accolades and sales. One must dream big; one must aim for something that is the very best he can imagine. Why bother to write otherwise? (This is true of more than writing, but I’ll confine myself here). But — and this is the key — if great things do not happen, the world does not end, I don’t jump off a cliff. That’s because I still have my children, the people I love . . . and my work. There is still the great privilege every morning of seeing patients, meeting people from all walks of life, dealing with things acute and chronic that make the ambition of writing seem trivial. And there is morning report, grand rounds and the noon conference to attend, and the chance perhaps to walk over and visit a colleague in anthropology bursting with ideas that relate to my interests. And there is my Wednesday morning men’s group and . . . life goes on.

When my most recent novel, “Cutting for Stone,” took hold in my head, an interesting thing began to happen. My subconscious mind was carrying the story. The feeling was that of being in love with a beautiful woman, but she eludes you, she comes and goes, makes promises then withdraws, leaves you in heaven one evening and in the doldrums the next day. Carrying that turmoil around from the night before inevitably meant that the oddest things happened at work, insights that opened new vistas, led me forward, made me say, “I must remember that” (and yet just as often by nightfall I had forgotten). I know that my subconscious mind was looking for connections, links, avenues, exits, and the things that were said and done at work seemed to tether the wisp of this dream with that one, this fragment of a thought with that, this image with that color. . . . Sleeplessness helped.

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(© Barbi Reed) - Physician and author Abraham Verghese.

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 The top five fiction and top five nonfiction books as chosen by Washington Post editors, with excerpts from The Post’s reviews.

As my book evolved, the pace picked up, and as my patient editor (patient as in the virtue, not the person) became, after some years, less than patient, I started to put a few writing days together — a Friday with a weekend or a Sunday with a Monday and Tuesday. Those strings of days were utter luxuries because I was able to take hold of large handfuls of the story and keep them all in my head as I assembled and rearranged. As the final manuscript became due, I took off a week here and there from work, but always with some apprehension. Medicine, you see, is my first love; whether I write fiction or nonfiction, and even when it has nothing to do with medicine, it’s still about medicine. After all, what is medicine but life plus? So I write about life. I plunge into the river every morning, let the current take hold. It is not the same river you stepped into yesterday. Thank God for that.

Verghese is the author of the best-selling novel “Cutting for Stone” and two memoirs, “My Own Country” and “The Tennis Partner.”