Is it possible to create a post using a metabox?

Question

I am trying to create a post (well, in the end, multiple posts) from a metabox using the 'save_post' hook. I executed the script once, creating 3900 or so new posts before I crawled into posts.php and discovered that wp_insert_post() calls the 'save_post' hook. Does anyone have a creative solution around this to create the post without doing a direct db insert (the less hacky the solution is the better).

Code

add_action( 'add_meta_boxes', 'my_metabox_init' );
add_action( 'save_post', 'my_metabox_save' );
function my_metabox_init()
{
    add_meta_box(
        'my-metabox',
        'My Metabox',
        'my_metabox_render'
        'post',
        'normal',
        'core'
    );
    //enquque scripts and styles
}
function my_metabox_render() {
    //generate datasets
}
function my_metabox_save() {
    //data authenticity check
    //process & sanitize data

    //create posts
    for( $i=0; $i<$count; $i++ ) {
        $args = array(
            'post_status' => 'pending',
            'post_title'  => $_POST['post_title'][$i],
            'post_type'   => 'custom_post_type',
        );
        foreach( $category_array[$i] as $category ) {
            $args['tax_input']['custom-taxonomy'][] = $category;
        }
        if( $_POST['id_of_previously_created_post'][$i] != '' ) {
            $args['ID'] = $_POST['id_of_previously_created_post'][$i];
            unset( $args['post_status'] );
        }
        $new_post_id = wp_insert_post( $args );
    }
}

Thanks!