It was not long into my first year of medical school that I realized that I needed to write. I needed a way to process all that I was learning and feeling, something to enjoy and something to anchor myself. By the time I graduated, I had composed a collection of essays related – some loosely, some with complete fidelity – to my experiences. Several have been published in their original forms and a few have evolved over multiple iterations before finding homes. I’m so pleased that the very first piece in the collection – titled Year One because I simply could not find another set of words to capture the thrill, the shock, the overpowering wave of responsibility, humility, and fear that arise and collide in that first stage of training – appears today on in-House, the online magazine for medical residents and fellows. Some elements of it come from true events, but overall it is a work of fiction. Click here to read: http://in-housestaff.org/year-one-688