Doctors have always been writers. Literary history is replete with them: Anton Chekhov, Somerset Maugham and Arthur Conan-Doyle are just some of the many who hung up their stethoscopes to devote themselves to the written word. More recently there have been the doctor memoirists: maybe you have read books by the likes of Henry Marsh, Siddhartha Mukherjee or Paul Kalanithi. And there are superb journalists like Melbourne oncologist Ranjana Srivastava, who has a regular column in the Guardian.

Of course, you might be just too busy to write the magnum opus you know you have inside you, and yet you still have the urge to put pen to paper. If so, the doctorportal blog might be the right bite-sized platform for you. We’re looking for blogs 600 to 1000 words long, on any kind of medical subject, as long as it’s interesting. It could be something topical about Medicare rebates, it could be about new treatments in your specialty area, or it could be about the restless quest for meaning in the face of death: it’s up to you! Recent doctorportal blogs include Dr Pamela Wible’s impassioned plea for better understanding of doctor suicides; a Melbourne gastroenterologist on why gluten-free is bad for you if you don’t have coeliac disease; or another on what lifestyle changes you should make to avoid dementia. Our blogs are widely read and are included on a newsletter sent out to over 30,000 of your colleagues.

Whether you’re a GP, specialist or trainee, you’ve almost certainly got something interesting to say about your life in medicine. It’s not hard: here are some tips on blog writing for doctors from the British Medical Association to help you along the way.

If you’re interested, please feel free to pitch your idea to our online editor Hugo Wilcken at hwilcken@mja.com.au .