No Deadlines, No Outlines, Just Flow: How Dr. Prajwal Kumar Domalapalli Crafts Satire from Real Life
- 21 hours ago
- 5 min read
Dr. Prajwal Kumar Domalapalli is a healthcare IT strategist and consultant with over 15 years of experience bridging the worlds of medicine and technology. After transitioning from a post-graduate Emergency Medicine physician to a full-time role in Healthcare IT, Prajwal continues to keep his clinical instincts sharp by offering free clinical advice and diagnoses that others sometimes miss, making him a rare hybrid of tech-savvy innovator and trusted medical thinker.
Currently serving as Senior Consulting Manager, Prajwal leverages his unique blend of clinical expertise and strategic insight to lead digital health innovations for global payers and providers. He is passionate about designing human-centric healthcare platforms that elevate patient care and clinician experience alike. Beyond his consulting work, he is an active podcaster hosting "Life: Health, Happiness and Beyond," where he shares candid conversations about well-being, healthcare trends, and navigating life's challenges with humor and heart.
Prajwal is also an established author, having previously published his acclaimed book Trials and Tribulations, which combines wit, wisdom, and honest reflection on the intertwining of health, technology, and human connection. Through his writing, podcasting, and consulting, he remains committed to demystifying healthcare IT and making meaningful contributions to the industry and community.
Whether diagnosing clinical puzzles or decoding the complexities of digital health transformation, Prajwal's work stands at the intersection of empathy, innovation, and practical solutions-empowering both patients and professionals on their journeys.
Salis Mania spoke with Dr. D. Prajwal Kumar about the evolution of his creative voice, from his early days as a late-teen rebel writing raw poetry to crafting his latest satirical guide on navigating dating apps for millennials and Gen-Z.
In this insightful conversation, he shared the literary influences that shaped his style, the reality of balancing a demanding day job with weekend writing marathons, and why developing a thick skin is the ultimate survival skill for a lifelong career in authorship.
Was there a specific "lightning bolt" moment, a single sentence you read or a conversation you had, where you realized you didn't just want to consume stories, but were destined to build them?
During my college days, I had a lot of pent-up frustrations because of a lot of factors, a late-teen rebel in a way, I guess. The best way I found to vent was writing poems, and I was not great at first, but I started getting good, good enough that almost a decade later, I had my first book published, a collection of some of these better poems! They're called 'Trials and tribulations - the musings of a cynical optimist'.
If you had to build a "Mount Rushmore" of the four authors who shaped your creative voice, who is on it, and what specific trait did you "steal" from each of them?
a. Isaac Asimov - the sheer imagination and foresight way back in the 1940s is now turning into reality!
b. P.G. Woodhouse: The satire, the puns, the repartee in his narration is not something I can steal but aspire to achieve!
c. J.K. Rowling: Controversial choice, but the writer brought back whole generations to books from TV. Her narrative was captivating in the Harry Potter series.
d. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: Saving the best for the last, the trait I'd steal from him is not just the attention to every detail in all his Sherlock Holmes books, but his perseverance, from a not-so-successful medical practice to arguably the most successful writer who has inspired many Sherlock 'Holmian' characters!!
Beyond just a desk and a chair, what is the one non-negotiable element of your environment, a specific scent, a playlist, or a time of day, that signals to your brain that it’s time to create?
A rainy day, coffee and a blank stare from my balcony while mulling over ideas of what I can write about - fiction, non-fiction, autobiographical, philosophical, political, etc.
Describe a time a story felt "dead" on the page. What was the specific breakthrough that brought it back to life, and what did that teach you about your own resilience?
This current book: I was not sure if I wanted to put myself out there, and if I did, how do I do so? And then I decided I would take a satirical, self-deprecating, comedic take while guiding millennials like Gen-Z and me on how to navigate the dating apps. What I learned when I started working on this is that I can convey my message without insulting anyone, and not seek pity for the troubled time I faced by making it satirical!
What is a piece of "standard" writing advice that you find completely useless, and what do you do instead that actually works for you?
"Have the table of contents/chapters in mind before you develop your idea". I don't find this helpful. I'd rather write in a flow, reiterate, then decide where I can break into chapters and how.
Aside from a command of language, what is the most underrated "soft skill" an author needs to survive the highs and lows of a lifelong career?
An author must have a thick skin. Don't just be ready for opinions and views but also abuse!
How do you protect your "creative energy" in the first two hours of the day? Is there a specific routine that keeps the "real world" from intruding on your imagination?
I write on the weekends, which is why I take a long time (longer than George R.R. Martin, not that I am at his level!) - because, for now, writing is a hobby. A decade from now, this might become my career. But for now, my real world is my day job Monday to Friday. The way I protect my 'creative energy' is by tuning out everything else in the real world and immersing myself in what I am writing about. In those minutes to hours, nothing else matters.
When you close your laptop, how do you successfully shed the skin of your characters and return to being yourself?
I have so far written from my own experiences, granted, with exaggeration. So there is no skin to shed, just going back to being myself!
Writing is a marathon of the mind. What is the one radical act of self-care you’ve adopted to ensure you don't burn out before the finish line?
It's a marathon, as pointed out rightly, and not a sprint, so I take it slow, given that I only have the weekends to write as of now. I don't set deadlines I know I cannot meet.
If you could bottle one habit or mindset shift that doubled your output or clarity, what would it be?
I would have an open mind and not be limited to the writers I prefer or re-read books I have read. Inspiration can come from something learnt from a book or seen in a series, but the best, for me, comes from within.
How has your definition of "making it" transformed from the day you started your first manuscript to where you stand right now?
As of today, "making it" is having my book published, reviewed honestly, rated truthfully, and constructive criticism shared.
We often talk about wins, but which "failure" in your journey are you now most grateful for, and how did it pave the way for your current growth?
The very first set of poems I wrote. They were bad. Really, really bad. Not worth trying to improve or modify. But when I found my stride, it paved the way for me to grow as a writer.
