Author Bio:
JACH, MD, is an American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology certified obstetrician-gynecologist practicing in Houston, Texas. She earned her bachelor of arts from The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, her doctor of medicine from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee, and served as resident physician at Baylor College of Medicine’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in Houston, Texas. She draws inspiration from her years of being an obstetrician-gynecologist taking care of women with infertility, while also taking care of women with unwanted fertility; a bitter fact of life is that maternal desires and fertility don’t always match up.
What inspires you to write?
I am jealous of authors who have written twenty-plus novels. Ten will be a stretch for me, but I am not a full time writer. My career as an obstetrician-gynecologist allows me to peer into the lives of families, both joyous and tragic; and gives me a plethora of material to work with. I recently took care of a surrogate mom carrying multiples, higher than twins. The tension between the surrogate and the adoptive parents (maybe biological, maybe not) soared. Surrogates tend to be giving females, while adoptive parents are used to paying for services and demanding perfection. I thought about writing a nonfiction called “Surrogate” a series of cases from surrogate moms, the good and the bad. Or perhaps a fictional novel where I compile surrogate moms I’ve known into one heroine. This is just one story of inspiration; I have many stories, and I hope to continue writing them.
Tell us about your writing process.
I never considered myself a writer until recently, and in fact, an English teacher once told me not to become a writer. Actually perhaps as many as four English teachers told me this, but that was twenty years ago, and I like to think I’ve become more creative since then. Writing is more of an outlet for me, allowing me to write about events I’ve seen and perhaps how I might imagine them differently. I am most creative when I am busy. I often write notes on scraps of paper as I am running from one thing to another. At some point I have to find all my scraps and put them in some kind of logical order. I think about pitfalls and what might make something unbelievable or leave a gap in the flow of the book. I often have a series of events and writing about the events themselves is easy, but then writing the parts that link the events is tricky. I think about a topic and follow it through its natural course, or the course I’ve witnessed over and over. Then I think about changing the course, and reaching a logical, but perhaps unseen ending.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
I don’t do either. My characters are often mixtures of people I have known with outcomes I can manipulate through my writing. I try to imagine how they feel and react, and how they might otherwise feel and differently react. In the field of medicine, I’m limited to empathy, not sympathy; in my writing, I am open to experiencing both.
What advice would you give other writers?
I have read that many authors commonly feel that they are frauds. Given that I am not primarily an author, I am uncertain about giving advice. Since publishing, I have connected with many part-time authors on-line, and I too had a story to tell. So my advice is to just write! Don’t be afraid of failure, it just means you tried and put yourself out there. Who knows you might shock yourself by writing a fabulous book or perhaps become the next amazing author!
How did you decide how to publish your books?
I self-published. I know another MD/author who published on CreateSpace and he encouraged me along this path. In hind-site, I wish I had researched about promoting before a book is published. Since publishing, I have learned a lot about promoting a book and realized my mistakes. In the future, I might consider a traditional publishing company; however, there’s a superb booster club for self-published authors on-line which has been an enjoyable part of self-publishing.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
I think the self-published market will continue to swell and flood. The next big thing will be services which help authors promote their works. With my career as a physician, my family, and now my book promoting, I have no time to write.
What do you use?
Professional Editor, Professional Cover Designer
What genres do you write?
Fiction, chic-lit, medical fiction
What formats are your books in?
Both eBook and Print
Website(s)
JACHMD Home Page Link
Link To JACHMD Page On Amazon
Link to Author Page on other site
Your Social Media Links
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7412862.J_A_C_H_
https://www.facebook.com/namelessblamelessreproduction
https://www.twitter.com/jachmd
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