Author Interview ~ Michael Palmer

Michael Palmer, M.D., is the author of The Society, Fatal, The Patient, Miracle Cure, Critical Judgment, Silent Treatment, Natural Causes, Extreme Measures, Flashback, Side Effects, and The Sisterhood. His books have been translated into thirty-five languages. He trained in internal medicine at Boston City and Massachusetts General Hospitals, spent twenty years as a full-time practitioner of internal and emergency medicine, and is now an associate director of the Massachusetts Medical Society's physician health program.

What book or project is coming out or has come out that you’d like to tell us about?

THE FIFTH VIAL, my 12th medical thriller was published in February, 2007 by St. Martin’s Press. It deals with the theft of transplant information from each of the millions of clients having blood drawn from the world’s largest lab.

THE FIRST PATIENT, my current project deals with the president’s college roommate and current physician, who has good reason to believe that his friend is going insane. I expect it to be done soon, and out early in 2008 (an election year!!)

Tell us about your journey to publication. How long had you been writing before you got the call you had a contract, how you heard and what went through your head.

My story in this regard is somewhat unusual in that I wrote a book no one wanted to represent, but that was interesting enough to get an agent to offer to guide me through the development of something else. She’s still my agent 28 years later. I started writing THE COREY PRESCRIPTION in November 1977, and finished it in February 1979. By April, I had my agent and a “new” book idea, which would become THE SISTERHOOD. In early 1980, THE SISTERHOOD was sold to Dell as an 80-page outline. I never had to write a word until I was assigned to an editor, the late, legendary Linda Gray.

The night I got “the call” from my agent that THE SISTERHOOD outline had been bought, I was hoping for an advance of $5000 . . . $10,000 tops. She reached me at 2:00 AM and began a guessing game. “Guess how much you got . . . guess how much you got.” I started (with fingers crossed) at $5000. By the time I learned I would be paid a quarter of a million dollars (1980 dollars!!) I was in tears. Of course, looking back, I realize that the only word I heard clearly was “million!” Now I automatically take any number and go: minus 15% for the agent, minus 40% for the IRS, spread over the length of time it takes to write the book.

THE SISTERHOOD was on the Times list for 8 weeks, has been translated into 37 languages, and is in its 36th printing.

Your first eleven novels made the NYT best-seller list. Wow. What do you attribute your phenomenal success to?

A lot of luck.
A great agent and great editors.
An open mind and a willingness to listen to criticism and make changes.
Fearlessness.
My imagination.

You’re a father, work with the Massachusetts Medical Society as an Associate Director of their physician health program, write full-time, etc. How do you manage it all?

One day at a time. My motto of life is: YOU CAN ONLY DO WHAT YOU CAN DO. My motto for writing is: BE FEARLESS.

From what I’ve read. your day job as Assoc. Director of the Massachusetts Medical Society seems more ministry than job. Can you share a little of what you do there?

My medical job has basically three parts (aside from education the medical and lay public)

Help a doctor with physical or mental illness, behavioral problems, or substance abuse come to grips with the fact that he/she is sick and in need of help.
Design an appropriate treatment program for them, including finding the right therapist or in patient program, the right support meetings, and the right workplace monitors.

Where appropriate, sign them up to a legally-binding monitoring agreement. Then, for 5 years, I supervise that agreement, meeting with the doctor at least monthly to discuss their progress and review their monitor reports.

What mistakes have you made while seeking publication?

Believe it or not, I really haven’t made any. I have implicit faith in my agent and follow her advice without fail. My biggest “mistake” is not writing faster, but that was an active choice so that I could keep working as a doctor. Now times have changed and I must alter my approach to production or risk being left in the publishing world’s dust.

What’s the best advice you’ve heard on writing/publication?

Be Fearless (Is this a theme?!!). Be willing to listen to those you trust. Be ready to do the extra draft.

What’s something you wish you’d known earlier that might have saved you some time/frustration in the publishing business?

Find someone you trust, hopefully your agent, and discuss your writing project with him/her before diving in.

What are a few of your favorite books? (Not written by you.)

All the Pretty Horses (Cormac McCarthy); Illusions (Richard Bach); Great Expectations and others (Dickens); Anything by Tess Gerritsen; Longing (J.D. Landis)

What piece of writing have you done that you’re particularly proud of and why?

Each book just because I know how hard it is to start, hang in, and actually finish.

Do you have a pet peeve having to do with this biz?

A book a year. Also, there is just too much product flooding the stores, so that usually, within a month or less, a book is “gone”, buried under an avalanche of new arrivals.

Can you give us a view into a typical day of your writing life?

I get up at 5, meditate, floss, make my kid and me breakfast, make his lunch, feed the cats, catch up on e-mail and bills, then fall asleep at my desk. After I wake up, I try and get 4 hours of good writing in. Four pages (1000 words) each day would make me very happy.

Take us through the process you use when writing a novel.

I start with a “heavy” outline (see

www.michaelpalmerbooks.com for details). Then, after my editor has approved it, I write the book. The last half I do by outlining 5 or so chapters at a time—not in as much detail as I did the first half. I try and perfect each chapter before moving on to the next—as long as it takes.

Do you have a dream for the future of your writing, something you would love to accomplish?

Somewhere along the line I would love to find an ongoing character who I, and my readers, enjoy. I would also love to have another couple of movies made from my books.

What is your favorite and least favorite part of being a writer?

Favorite: Having written a book.
Least Favorite: Coming home and discovering that no one has stepped in while I was gone and written a chapter.

How much marketing do you do? Any advice in this area?

A writer’s main job is to write. I have yet to be convinced that book tours or other marketing by the author does as much to forward their career as does writing and completing another book.

Parting words?

Be Fearless!!!