Mark Murphy

Mark Murphy has been a doctor since 1988.

He has been a writer his entire life.

After spending his early childhood reading anything he could get his hands on and roaming the marshes and maritime forests of coastal Georgia--where he collected myriad seashells and arrowheads and fossils and fancied himself a swashbuckler of the highest order--Mark entered the creative literary world by winning a local poetry contest in the fifth grade. Later that year, he wrote, directed and starred in his own play about the signing of the Declaration of Independence and started his own self-published classroom newspaper.

It was the high-water mark for Murphy's elementary school literary career.

In high school, Mark continued to write. He served as Editor of the high school newspaper and won a few awards for his editorials, critical reviews, short stories and poetry. He also attempted several times to start a novel. Alas, those attempts went nowhere, rarely making it beyond the first chapter--or the next call from his girlfriend, who was far more interesting than anything he could write about.

When he enrolled at the University of Georgia as a journalism major, he seemed destined for a literary career.

But he loved science. And he missed science.

Mark changed majors to Zoology with plans of becoming a marine biologist, like Jacques Cousteau. He even spent the better part of a year doing marine biology research. A good bit of that time involved tossing about on the Atlantic in a converted shrimp trawler that had once been used as a drug-smuggling boat, a leaky vessel that stank of diesel and dead fish. It was this experience that made him realize that he did not want to be the next Jacques Cousteau (or the first Jacques Cousteau, for that matter). Instead, he dedided to follow in his father's footsteps and go to medical school.

After graduating from the University of Georgia as a First Honor Graduate, with a 4.0 GPA, Mark enrolled at the Medical College of Georgia. After receiving his M.D., he moved on to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to begin his residency training in Internal Medicine. Mark's training at UNC was filled with interesting experiences; he took care of a dying sitcom star, a fallen tele-evangelist, several corrupt politicians and a serial killer while in Chapel Hill. He began to realize that medicine afforded physicians with a unique perspective into peoples' lives --an observation that would serve him well later.

Continuing his training in Chapel Hill as a Fellow in gastroenterology, Mark wrote several book chapters and academic articles--but his creative writing muse had withered away to nothing.

In 1994, Mark returned to his home town of Savannah, Georgia to start the practice that would ultimately become the largest gastroenterology group in South Georgia.

The untimely death of Mark's friend Lisa Erickson led him to write a short story, The Funeral, as a gift for her husband. This story was published in a collection of short stories in 2004. Returning to creative writing, Mark attended the Iowa Summer Writing Festival and began writing short stories once again. Two years ago, he started writing a well-received regular opinion column in his hometown newspaper, the Savannah Morning News.

Recently, Mark decided to tackle trying to write a novel once more.

It turned out better this time.

Mark lives in Savannah and is married to Daphne, his high school sweetheart, who remains a very pleasant distraction. They have two grown children.