Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am in my second career! I am a psychiatrist at the University of Michigan, and have been seeing patients, training residents and medical students, and doing research. And now I am also an award-winning novelist. The End of Miracles is an International Book Awards finalist for literary fiction, has been an Amazon Kindle International Best-seller, and has been recommended by the American Library Association. It has also been optioned for a movie. I also write as an Expert Blogger for Psychology Today, and my many articles can be found here: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/call
Fun things I like to do include choral singing, Pilates and Tai Chi.
I have written one novel, The End of Miracles,
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The End of Miracles is the coming-together of my psychiatric interests and experiences and my interest in writing a novel. It was inspired by consultations requested by obstetrician colleagues on patients with false, fantasied pregnancies. I was struck by the thought that a novel that explored how this happened, and the results of it, could be interesting for both the writer and the reader. Margo, the character in the book, is totally unlike the patients I saw – she is completely invented. But her inspiration comes from real life. The novel draws on my decades of experience with psychosomatic medicine, infertility, depression and psychotherapy. While a gripping and suspenseful novel, The End of Miracles is deeply and intimately psychological. It also realistically portrays how psychiatrists think and how they design treatment plans for their patients.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Sometimes, when I had to go to work in the morning and be a doctor, I still wanted to keep working on the novel I had been writing the previous night. So I told myself: ‘ Brain, I have to go to work now. But you keep working on the story.” Usually, when I came home in the evening, a few good, solid paragraphs would slide easily from brain to paper.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
A multiplicity of books and genres. I started with Nancy Drew and A Secret Garden as a child, read non-fiction like Freud’s Interpretation of Dreams as a teenager. In the decades I have been an author myself, I read good books with eye for both the story and for the technique.
What are you working on now?
A memoir. I started medical school when there were only 8% women in medical schools across the country. I was the only woman in my internship group. Then, I had to learn to thrive as a medical school faculty when there were few women there as well. How this all intersects with my raising a family and myliterary work makes for an interesting story.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Linking with current events.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Be persistent. It is a very long journey, which is good – less pressure to feel you have to do everything right at the beginning.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
An excellent writer said, when asked what to do about promoting one’s book:
“Just start your next one.”
You have to work to promote your book, but at the same time it can’t be your entire focus. Starting a new one gives you another writing project to care about.
What are you reading now?
As I am writing a memoir, I am reading more memoir. Two recent ones: Admiral William McRaven’s Sea stories, and Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s My Beloved World.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Finishing my memoir, and continuing to write my Expert Blog for Psychology Today.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. It is the equivalent of many books.
All The Light We Cannot See. The language is so gorgeous that I read it slowly to savor each sentence.
Author Websites and Profiles
Monica Starkman Website
Monica Starkman Amazon Profile