Hello!
I’m Ella, a 30-something doctor, writer, and podcaster, and this is me finding a new home for my stories.
I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember. I started with diaries, my first one being a pink hardbound journal with Minnie Mouse on the cover. Minnie Mouse was witness to stories of First Grade Ella and her crushes. One notebook after another, my life was documented in pages and paragraphs. Eventually, blogging became a thing, and I started transferring my thoughts online. I had multiple iterations of my journal on long-form platforms like blogspot.com and WordPress, but it wasn’t until medical school that I wanted to give my blog a do-over.
I created a new account and transformed my “Dear Diary” entries into creative nonfiction. I wrote about what I knew —experiences I’ve had, realizations I’ve come across, and random thoughts that warranted more reflection. Soon, I was also writing poetry and elaborate birthday greetings. Now and then, my work would get published somewhere—a magazine, a newspaper, and recently, a collection of essays by doctors called “Rx Narratives” edited by Dr. Joey Tabula, Dr. Noel Pingoy, and Dr. Sandra Tankeh-Torres. They’re no longer diary entries, but they each create the fabric of my life, woven together through time.
Why Ella Thinks Aloud?
Ever since my 2013 blog, Ella Thinks Aloud has always resonated with me because that’s what writing has always been—saying my thoughts aloud. I like to talk, and I like making my opinions known. This is simply the space where I immortalize them.
Writing has become part and parcel of who I am, but recently I’ve had trouble reconnecting with that. It’s become harder to find my voice and unleash it through words. They say novelty gives birth to new perspectives, so here I am trying something new.
From now on, I’ll start posting my essays here. You’re welcome to visit anytime.
