Sandra Somers

My best advice is that whatever you're going to branch out into, it's like Abraham Lincoln said: 'If I had nine hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend eight sharpening my axe.' If you really want to write a novel and use your psychiatric expertise to do that, first really dedicate yourself to learning the structure of a novel. Even if it's something as simple as buying a series of tapes, taking a class or buying a book. Do that before you put pen to paper. And then, actually do the work.