Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Only Rock is Real: Discussion and Interview with Author Sandra Miller, MD

Dr. Jonas, your host for The Dr. Synonymous Show interviews Sandra Miller on January 21, 2018 about her delightful novel, Only Rock is Real.  The novel deftly combines a geographically and medically accurate setting with astronomy and dynamic human relationships to deliver a message about the life of a woman physician.  Yes, gender matters - to all of us - and Dr. Miller knows it.  She develops her characters and connects them to other characters and situations then sprinkles in the Grand Canyon, The Grand Canyon Clinic on the South Rim and the heavens.  Wow!

I loved the book.  I do want to visit the Grand Canyon as a result of reading her perspective about life, love and medical practice on the South Rim.

Snakebites, gunshot wounds, brawls, dehydration, heart attacks, grief reactions, pneumonia, coccidiodomycosis and more medical conditions are daily fare for Dr. Abby Willmore and her clinical boss, Dr. Pepper.  Jake Peterson, park ranger, spices up her life, which is clouded with a history of panic attacks and alcohol abuse (maybe self-treating the panic?).
Tune in to the Dr. Synonymous Show on Blog Talk Radio to learn more about the book and the author.  We'll have geology, astronomy, Family Medicine, geography, clinical situations and even sex/intimacy/love to discuss.

Click here to tune in live at 9 PM eastern on Sunday January 21, 2018 or you can listen to it anytime on Blog Talk Radio by clicking for the next few years.

General author questions that I might ask include:

How did you decide to write novels?  Why this subject matter?

What is your geology background?  How did it change with your experience in the South Rim?

How about the same with your astronomy background and interests?

The tension among and between the characters in your book and the environment seems to work well, at least for me as a reader.  How do you decide on the tension levels and situations?

The amount of pain and suffering was OK for me as a physician reader, although I could feel one of the situations intensely.  What feedback do you have from other readers about the pain and suffering of characters, patients, etc?

How do you decide what limits to put on the development of Dr. Abby Willmore?

How do women in medicine respond to your writing about Abby?  How does the Abby Willmore, MD character seem to compare with relationships, dating, love, reproduction, etc. in women physicians you've known through the years?  How do you decide how far to go with writing about the intimate/sexual situations?  How many attributes can you toss into the life of such a character?

Thanks for integrating the medical student and resident physician roles into the clinic.  My first multidisciplinary experience in medical school at Ohio State was through the U of Az. in Marana, Arizona at a Community Health Center with nursing and pharmacy students.  A nurse practitioner named Pat was the boss.  We had a mobile clinic that we took to schools and a small village or two.  An internist from Johns Hopkins was serving his NHSC commitment there.  The pharmacy and community board of directors were other key elements.  There was a church next door and a mobile home for loan around the corner where I stayed with my wife and two very young children.  Cotton fields were vast and seemed to be everywhere.  It was a powerful experience.

How long does it take to write a novel?

How many do you have going at once?  Or are they sequential?

With your thousands of patient experiences, how do you decide which types will be included in the books?  What about one of a kind experiences- how do you mask them in your writing?

What else do you want the listeners to know about you or your work?

How can they buy your books? Books and Writings of Sandra Miller, MD



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