Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Sandra Miller.
Dr. Miller, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
In college, I thought I would become a biomedical librarian. It seemed the perfect fit because I loved books, I majored in creative writing, and I was fascinated by science enough to have minors in biology and anthropology. Almost on a whim, just to say I had tried, I applied to medical school. I never really expected to be accepted — it was the early seventies, and barely ten percent of medical students were female.
During my long years as a family physician, first in private practice then as faculty at Good Samaritan family medicine residency, I never quite quit writing. Poetry, essays—pieces that were fairly short and manageable. Medicine is so demanding and requires constant studying to keep up, and we were raising a daughter, too, which kept writing on the back burner. I’ve encouraged other physicians to write as well, both for stress relief and as a creative outlet, and I still organize writing workshops for them. But once I retired, I craved a new challenge and decided to write a novel.
Almost no fiction has been written about women physicians, outside of crime/CSI and pathology, or about family medicine. Curiously, considering the millions of annual visitors, not much fiction has been written at Grand Canyon, either. Because I’ve known or helped train quite a few family docs who practiced at the Grand Canyon Clinic, and because I’ve walked, rafted, ridden a mule, and flown in and out of the canyon, I’ve heard some great stories. So, I placed my first novel there, about a young woman physician remaking herself; she is determined and vulnerable.
Creating these stories is a remarkable, joyful experience — I just love it. I love showing how doctors think, how they worry about their patients and their decisions, how they deal with good and bad outcomes. How they are human and make mistakes, both professionally and personally. I enjoy highlighting medical conditions, exploring the strengths and limitations of medical knowledge. It’s fun to fold in humor and romance. And I especially love describing the wondrous world around us, all the beautiful geology and astronomy and our ever-evolving planet. I’ve even invented a new name for my fiction genre: science-based medical adventure.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Writing the novel is the first big challenge, but figuring out how to publish it is tackling another beast altogether. There were some very close calls with agents and publishing firms. I probably should have kept trying the traditional route because I received some encouraging feedback (between rejections), but at my age, the clock ticks loudly and every month brings news of friends or family who has suddenly developed life-limiting problems. Not to mention that while waiting to hear from agents for the first novel, I missed my writing activities and accidentally wrote the second novel, which takes place mostly in Yellowstone. So, I decided to publish on Amazon. Some days, I’m glad I moved on with it and other days I regret it, thinking that I should have tried a little longer. Did I mention I’m working on the third one?
Now, the challenge is marketing, making the books visible to potential readers. Good reviews on Amazon are not enough, but the marketing process is a morass and can become quickly expensive for dubious returns. Enough to say that I’m still working on it.
My advice for other writers: if you’re like me, you can’t stop yourself from writing. Get constant feedback and be very open to critique. Nothing that’s good hasn’t gone through countless revisions and endless editing. Don’t wait until you’re old like me if you can avoid it! That said, I’m proof that you’re never too old, either.
My advice about a medical career: it’s wonderful, demanding, frustrating, and rewarding work. You need to be obsessive about lifelong learning and committed to communicating deeply with others; you’ll need to distill mountains of information into practical health advice and you must abhor charlatans and fake science. You will lose considerable idealism (not to mention sleep) and have to create new goals at every stage. If all this feels comfortable and you have a head for science and a heart for care, and you don’t mind delaying your gratification for years, then you might consider a medical career.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about your business – what should we know?
As mentioned, my writing is unique because there is so little fiction about women physicians or family medicine in our country. I relish incorporating real science, accurate medical dilemmas, and true conflicts faced by physicians every day. My writing is playful and sometimes spicy because that’s part of life, too. You can’t help but learn some medicine, and people from other states tell me that reading these books makes them want to visit the Grand Canyon. That makes my day.
We’re interested to hear your thoughts on female leadership – in particular, what do you feel are the biggest barriers or obstacles?
Women now make up more than half of the new admissions to medical schools, yet women in medicine face many of the same challenges as in other professional careers: not much presence in leadership, pay inequalities, and sexual harassment. It’s changing, but slowly. An article in AAMC News this year shows that the percent of women holding permanent dean positions at medical schools between 2011 and 2016 moved from 12% to 16%. Clearly, these issues deserve more attention. (https://news.aamc.org/diversity/article/academic-medicine-needs-more-women-leaders/)
Pricing:
- Only Rock is Real, available on Amazon/Kindle as eBook ($4.99) or paperback ($10.99)
- Crooked Trails, available on Amazon/Kindle as eBook ($7.00) or paperback ($12.99)
Contact Info:
- Website: www.skepticalword.com
- Email: skepticalword@gmail.com
Getting in touch: VoyagePhoenix is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
