For years Peter Hogenkamp wrote in a journal almost daily.
When he turned 40, 15 years ago now, his wife gave him some advice. “She said it’s time to step up my journal writing to a book,’’ Hogenkamp said. “Don’t do it to make money, but because you want to, because you like it. So I started my first book.’’
Hogenkamp over the next 15 years wrote four books. He’s working on his fifth, but this time it will be different.
He writes now as a published author. His fourth book, titled ‘The Intern’ was published last month by TouchPoint Press.
His novel centers on Maggie, 27, a doctor doing her internship at a charity hospital. She meets Bobby, 12, who will finish out his living in the hospital before his cancer ends his young life.
The medical novel takes a detailed and realistic look at the life of an intern dealing with pressures inside and outside of the hospital. While it is not based completely on his own life, Hogenkamp did reach back from some of his own days in residency to tell the story.
Hogenkamp, son of Joan and William Hogenkamp, grew up on Fountain Street in Clinton. He attended St. Mary’s Catholic School; while his siblings graduated from Clinton Central School, he went to Utica Notre Dame.
“I had the best upbringing,’’ said Hogenkamp, who lives near Rutland, Vt. “Clinton is a wonderful place to grow up and call home.’’
From Notre Dame, Hogenkamp went on to the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts, where he earned a degree in chemistry. He was accepted into medical school at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse but put it off for three years.
Hogenkamp said he was all set to take the next step...