Knowing the past can save your life! Click on cover to get CHASING BACKWARDS, a psychological murder-mystery. What if your life depends on getting into a place that may not even exist, your own unconscious?
Click on cover to get SKIN DANCE, A MYSTERY: Can an LA psychiatrist battle his own demons and save himself and his family from a psychotic killer? Find out in Skin Dance, a mystery
Click on cover to get THE MAN WITH A MICROPHONE IN HIS EAR. What’s it like to be a 1st year psychiatric resident on his 1st day of training, assigned to treat a dangerous paranoid man?
Tag Archives: Pat Conroy
ARE WRITERS CRAZY TO SPEND THOUSANDS OF HOURS WRITING? By Art Smukler, author & psychiatrist
Can a writer get money, fame, prestige, and power if his work is successful? Sure, but how many Conroys, Salingers, or Twains will actually emerge from today’s millions of hungry scribes, and can those few produce characters like Tom Wingo, … Continue reading
Posted in CHASING BACKWARDS, a psychological murder mystery, Psychiatry, Self Examination, Skin Dance, a mystery, The Man with a Microphone in his Ear, Writing
Tagged Catcher in the Rye, Huck Finn, Inside the mind of a psychiatrist, mark Twain, Pat Conroy, Sophie's Choice and editing, The passion of writing, The psychology of writing, Tom Wingo
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BACK STORY — THE ENGINE OF THE UNCONSCIOUS, By Art Smukler, author & psychiatrist
Remember how tasty and comforting it was to be breast fed? How you fought and yelled when you had to stop pooping in your diaper and had to use the potty? You don’t remember? No worries. 99.99 percent of us … Continue reading
Posted in CHASING BACKWARDS, a psychological murder mystery, Childhood Trauma, Psychiatry, Raising Children, Self Examination, Writing
Tagged Back Story, Chad Harbach, Chasing Backwards, Childhood Trauma, Inside the mind of a psychiatrist, Pat Conroy, Prince of Tides, The art of Fielding, The unconscious mind
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THE CASE OF AN INCURABLE OBSESSION, by Art Smukler, author & psychiatrist
I just finished reading South of Broad, by Pat Conroy and A Drop of the Hardstuff, by Lawrence Block. Both books were terrific. I learned more about human nature and experienced how the characters dealt with the trauma of their … Continue reading
HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH AN ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM? by Art Smukler author and psychiatrist
Dealing with an elephant in the room can be very challenging. Fear, guilt and political incorrectness, are the main reasons why we avoid pointing out what’s sitting right there in front of us. My father’s a violent drunk, and he’ll … Continue reading
WHY KILL A SAINT? MOTHERS AND AUTHORS, by Art Smukler MD
The saint I’m referring to is Theresa Belmont, my main character’s mother (In Chasing Backwards). The anger towards “the saint” is one of the novel’s driving forces. Sometimes I feel a little guilty about that anger, but most of the … Continue reading
INSIDE THE MIND OF A PSYCHIATRIST 