INTERVIEW WITH DR. RICHARD MABRY

Dr. Richard Mabry is a retired physician, now writing “medical suspense with heart.” His previous novels have garnered critical acclaim and been recognized by programs including the ACFW’s Carol Award, the Romantic Times’ Inspirational Book of the Year, the Inspirational Readers Choice, and the Selah Award. He is a proud member of the ACFW, the International Thriller Writers, and the FHL chapter of the RWA. Medical Judgment is his tenth published novel.

You can learn more about him by checking out his website, his blog, his Facebook fan page and/or his Twitter page.

INTERVIEW

You’ve only been a contributor to Suspense Sisters for a few months. Will you tell us a little about yourself?

I’ve lived in Texas since birth with the exception of three years overseas in the Air Force. I was in the solo practice of ENT (ear, nose, throat) for 26 years, a professor at the UT Southwestern Medical Center for 10 years, and have been retired from medicine since 2002.

I started writing after the death of my first wife in 1999, eventually producing a book, The Tender Scar: Life After The Death Of A Spouse, published by Kregel in 2006 and still in print. At the Christian writing conference I attended while trying to learn more about writing, two or three of the faculty members encouraged me to try my hand at fiction. It took four years, four novels, and forty rejections before I got my first fiction contract.

How many books have you produced, and which one was the toughest to write?

Counting my current book, I’ve had ten novels of medical suspense published, as well as two novellas. But the hardest book to write wasn’t one of these. It was The Tender Scar. Even now, when I read some of the chapters I cry.

Are you a “plotter” or a “pantser?”

The latter, I guess. Unlike the “plotters” among authors, when I start writing a novel, I have no idea who the bad person will turn out to be. As Donald Westlake, who called this “push fiction,” said: “If I don’t know what comes next, how can the reader guess it?”

What’s your writing routine? Where do you like to write? Starbucks? On your back porch?

I have a small (I mean, really small) office at home. After coffee and the news, I have breakfast, then go in and check email, read blogs, and try to get to work writing. And in case anyone is curious, no, I don’t write every day or have a word quota. Sometimes life gets in the way. But I always seem to make my deadlines.

What do you think is the best and/or worst part about being a writer?

I think it’s true—writers don’t enjoy writing, they enjoy having written. I love the sense of accomplishment when I finish each stage of the novel, and especially after I wind up the whole thing. On the other hand, while I’m writing I hate it when I get to a particularly tough spot and wonder how my character is going to get out of it.

Can you tell us about your new novel?

My next novel, Medical Judgment, is scheduled to release May 19. Here’s the back cover copy:

Someone is after Dr. Sarah Gordon. They’ve stalked her, then set a fire at her home, and she has no idea what will come next. Her late husband’s best friend and a recovering alcoholic detective are

trying to solve the mystery before it’s too late, but both appear to be vying for her affection as well. Sarah finds herself in constant fear as the process plays out. The questions keep mounting. Who is doing this? Why are they after her? What will they do to her? Will it mean her death? And, meanwhile, whom can she trust?

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