Friday, February 19, 2021

Sandra Cavallo Miller, retired as a physician, starting over as a writer...

HALLIE EPHRON: Recently I had the pleasure of being on a panel

for an event with Arizona State University with retired physician Sandra Cavallo Miller. We spotted each other across the virtual dais as kindred spirits.

I am so delighted to have her as a guest today, talking about her trilogy featuring a young woman physician and set against the magnificent backdrop of the Grand Canyon.

Like me, she embraced her inner writer relatively late and after a virtual lifetime of experiences.

SANDRA CAVALLO MILLER: Old age always seems like a long way off. Then suddenly it’s here.

Technically speaking, we abruptly become geriatric at 65, whether we agree or not. We’re officially labeled “elderly,” no matter how annoying and untrue that feels. This happens regardless of how sharp or not we find our brains, how fit or not we find our bodies. Medicare coverage starts. Pilots and air traffic controllers must retire. So it’s easy to start feeling old.

But wait. Our president is 78, and a brilliant popular epidemiologist is 80. Okay, now I feel better. Especially since I started this new venture at age 66: writing novels. So maybe “geriatric” is not old, but liberating. I finally have time to create new worlds!

All I need is my imagination and a pen, literal or virtual.

Older new writers (is that confusing? should it be newer old writers?) have advantages besides more time. Experience. Perspective. We’ve seen a lot. I don’t think there’s a human on this planet without a unique story.

And we’ve been through a lot: when I started medical school, fewer than one out of ten students were female. When I became a family physician in Phoenix, Arizona, only two of us women held that role. Two, in the entire city. Now over half of medical school classes are women. Yeah, we’ve come a long way. People in those days who saw me in a white coat would ask me what kind of nurse I was.


But age is relative, and living in Arizona provides some unique outlooks. I might be old, but the place is really old. The earth cracks open at the Grand Canyon: the Kaibab limestone layer at the top boasts being 270 million years old, and the Vishnu schist at the river formed 1.7 billion years ago. So where better for an old woman to put a novel? Despite being one of the seven natural wonders of the world, only a handful of novels have been set at the Grand Canyon. It’s irresistible.

I love our planet, our natural world and our universe. I can’t get enough of old rocks and the stardust that makes us up, and how our species—imperfect and challenged as we are—came to be. Our urges to explore, to push ourselves, often at our peril and even our demise. We are seekers, although we don’t always understand what we seek. Adventure. Fulfilment.

So here I find myself, an old retired family doc writing fiction about medicine on the brink of geology. If that sounds toonoble, don’t worry . . . my novels include light, playful stuff with some real science and quirky characters thrown in. I’ve rarely found pure medical themes compelling enough to make a good story. You need plot to keep things going: some mystery, some romance, good and bad people trying to get somewhere. Even though I don’t know what I’m doing, don’t know the formulas for genres, it’s all there somewhere. Maybe a little mixed up.

But I keep getting better at it, and I have never had so much fun in my life.

Right now I have a trilogy about a young woman physician who works at the Grand Canyon Clinic on the South Rim. Each book stands alone, and the third novel, What the River Said, comes out in May. The middle book takes place mostly at Yellowstone—like the Grand Canyon, a place that’s a geology fever dream. And I’m thrilled to announce that my publisher (University of Nevada Press) will release my newest novel this September. Where No One Should Live champions a public health physician, set in Phoenix during a brutally hot summer. Although written pre-Covid, I must have had a premonition that public health doctors would become more visible in our society!

I’m curious how many of you have started new and absorbing endeavors later in life. How has that gone for you? What’s your quest? What’s on your bucket list? Don’t put off everything until you’re seventy, because your body might not get the memo and might hold you back.

Sandra Cavallo Miller is a retired academic family physician. Little fiction has been written about family medicine or women doctors, and she is on a mission to change that. When not writing, you might find her hiking with a dog, riding a horse, or sitting under a tree studying her favorite hobby, volcanology. Her writings and poems have been published in JAMA's "A Piece of My Mind," Pulse: Voices from the Heart of Medicine, Under the Sun, and Embark, among others. She lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Her trilogy about a woman physician at the Grand Canyon Clinic, published by the University of Nevada Press, combines science-based medicine with adventure, geology, and romance.

65 comments:

  1. Congratulations, Sandra . . . have you found “starting over” to be a bit daunting? Or is it more the thrill of a new adventure?
    Your trilogy sound wonderful . . . I’m looking forward to reading your books.

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    1. Definitely more adventure than daunting because I had pretty low expectations. The first novel was an experiment, but I enjoyed it so much I had to keep going. You can see the plots and characters evolve as I delve deeper into the craft. And while I knew it was time to retire, I was far too used to a busy life -- I think I'll always need projects and goals.

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    2. The great advantage of starting to write when you have a few miles on is you have experiences under your belt -- and you have something to say about them. We write our 'truths' into our fiction.

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  2. Sandra, I’m glad you started this second career of writing because it sounds like you have lots of interesting stories to share. I love the settings of your books, as they are ones I’ve not yet encountered. Who says you can’t be original after 65? You have taken your new talent and are running with it. Congratulations on your books and thank you for showing us that age shouldn’t stop one from following her dreams.

    I haven’t started anything new and adventurous lately, but as I turn 67 next week, you have got me thinking about it.

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    1. I also admire people who can just retire and enjoy life. It's not as easy as it sounds.

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    2. Absolutely do it, especially as we slowly pull out of our quarantines. I never dreamed this could go this far. While I never practiced medicine at the canyon, I helped train many doctors who did and I heard so many stories from them. Especially the women. But I bet you also have stories -- who doesn't by our age? The trick is to tap into them.

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  3. Sandra, welcome to JRW. Your series sounds like a perfect fit for my interests. What fabulous natural settings you have chosen for your stories! I was 4 years old the first time I saw the Grand Canyon and can still remember that visit almost 70 years ago. It was my husband and my first destination after he retired. But you are so right about choosing to go and do before your body says you can't. I'll be looking for your series later this morning.

    As for things I have taken up late in life, reading mysteries would be the first thing that comes to mind.

    Stay safe everyone! Texans, weather back to normal for you on Monday! Hang in there.

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    1. Reading mysteries! We're so glad you began!!

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    2. Reading is the best endeavor ever. I've never read as much as during this last year, so confined to home. It's essentially experience by proxy, and there's nothing more delicious than reading a good novel. And yes, I do feel my clock ticking, which is part of my drive to keep writing while I can!

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  4. These books sound wonderful, and I love the Southwest. I'm off to look them up! When did you start dreaming about writing fiction?

    My first mystery was published two months before my 60th birthday. Now, at 68, I have 23 in print and more on the way. It's truly never too late to start living your dream. Congratulations for finding yours.

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    1. I think 'making up for lost time'does NOT apply to you, Edith. You have never lost a moment of time

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    2. You are truly an inspiration. Thank you! I've always been some sort of a writer (my college major was "rhetoric" before the term "creative writing" came along), but mostly wrote essays and poetry. Then I wanted a bigger challenge with retirement and my head is full of stories and experiences. I'm also excited about my 4th upcoming novel, due out in September, about a public health physician (female family doc, of course) in downtown Phoenix during a brutally hot summer. Also a mystery!

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  5. I love your story and can't wait to read your books. I'm a biologist by training and had a fulfilling career as a biology professor. After retiring and doing contract writing for a few years, I wound up in art school, if all places, finishing a degree in art history at 60 and a BFA in photography at 61. I don't do anything professionally, but making work for myself and learning new media keeps me busy during these crazy times!

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    1. Kerry, do you post your photos online anywhere where we can see them? Would also love to hear about what kind of 'new media.'

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    2. What a wonderful story of following your dreams and inclinations. I'm currently taking a geology course; my college minor was paleontology/anthropology. If I was doing it now, I probably would have become a volcanologist. Back in my younger days, the concept of tectonic plates was just gaining a foothold. That's how fast earth science and knowledge has moved. I bet you have similar stories within biology.
      Your journey is truly fascinating, and clearly you're not even close to being done.

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  6. I'm happy to learn about you and your books here today, Sandra. I'll be off to find them later this morning.

    As I head into my sixties, I have plans to translate my college communication-skills teaching experience into community-based writing workshops. I feel unstoppable, so as long as my body cooperates, I'll enjoy teaching on my own terms and working with people of any age who wish to use writing as a tool for transformation.

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    1. Yay, Amanda! Memoir is fertile ground when you have a full life of experiences to write about.

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    2. This sounds wonderful, and I love your energy. Writing workshops can be downright thrilling, seeing people write their raw emotions and thoughts (sometimes for the very first time) and helping them discover how to express it effectively. And while the best thing about writing is that it's between our ears no matter how cooperative our bodies are, we can also keep our brains going with a healthy lifestyle. (Sorry, sometimes that doctor stuff just slips in)

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  7. SANDRA: Congratulations on starting your new career!

    I retired 5 years ago from a fulfilling career in the Canadian federal government as a climatologist and climate change researcher.

    The first trip I took in February 2016 was to Arizona to attend Left Coast Crime (LCC) 2016. After that, I crossed off one bucket list item by visiting the Grand Canyon...stunning! I have to look up your books.

    Several injuries (broken ankle/leg) and illnesses (long-hauler COVID) have delayed/thwarted me from crossing off some of my next bucket list items. But I am still striving to reach my goal to be active all year long, read 200 books/year (I have reached 180 books twice) and to do more travel when it is safe to do so.

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    1. Grace, I'm so sorry that Covid zapped you. And as a climatologist, you must have an interesting perspective on the week's goings on. (One of my husband's college roommates was Stephen Schneider who was one of the earliest people to write about climate change.)

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    2. Grace: your grit and determination shine through your misfortune. I hope the coming year lets you spread your wings again. Even your brief post here opens many ideas for a novel/essay/poem about your work and your challenges. Here's hoping you are soon able to travel to your heart's content.

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    3. HALLIE: That is cool about your husband rooming with Stephen. I was lucky to work on some North American-wide climate change assessments with him back in the 1990s.

      SANDRA: Thank you for your positive thoughts.

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    4. HALLIE: Yes, the recent occurrences of more extreme events with the polar vortex breaking off and extending down south to the Canadian Prairies and the US Mid-west/South was projected to happen under various climate change scenarios. The vulnerability of the Texas power grid to temperature extremes and soaring energy demand is a wake-up call not just there but in other jurisdictions in North America,

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  8. Congratulations on your second career.

    Yep, it seems when we age out of the work force, we age into our dreams. My first novels were published at 60, work got in the way of more writing and now, at 68, I find myself happily plucking away at the keyboard again.

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    1. Love this: "we age out of the work force, we age into our dreams. "

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    2. Agree with Hallie, what an amazing sentiment. Thanks for that! Good luck with your renewed efforts and pleasure at writing again.

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  9. Congratulations! Your books sound good, and the covers are beautiful! I’m adding them to my TBR list.

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    1. Thanks so much. I agree, I love the vibrant covers which echo the titles. I love the team at U of Nevada Press.

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  10. Congratulations, Sandra.

    I've been following a podcast called "Late Bloomer Living" which is all about people who are reinventing the idea of what it means to be middle-aged (and older). The latest episode talked about "seasons" of life and how for women especially, it used to be once the kids were raised and out, it was sort of "well, now what?" Not any more.

    I'm not geriatric yet, but I published my first book at 45 and now at 47 I have five in print with a sixth coming this August. My kids are in college. I'm loving this new "season."

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    1. Thx, Liz!
      Liz's new book is THE STORIES WE TELL: A Homefront Mystery - check it out on her web site http://www.lizmilliron.com/

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    2. Thank you! What a great success story. This reminds me of the phrase "a woman of a certain age," a supposedly delicate way of saying middle-aged or older without much to recommend her. It might imply menopause, which I think should be a celebration. Talk about liberating. Perhaps we should have menopause parties? But when do we hear about a "man of a certain age"? Thankfully these paradigms are shifting.

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    3. Hallie and Edith, thanks!

      Sandra, I'd be all over that. After 34 years, I'm ready for menopause. I wish that system came with an off switch! LOL

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  11. Congratulations on your series! I started writing mystery stories when the youngest left for college.

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    1. Same with me - I was able to take over what had been my daughters' 'play room' - turns out Virginia Woolf was right, you do need a room to write in.

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    2. My favorite writing room is my back porch until the desert summer comes knocking, then I have to move inside. Then I sit at a window where I can see cactus wrens flit through an old mesquite tree, and watch lizards run up and down the branches. I put a plastic owl out back to discourage pigeons, and had a great moment watching a small hawk diving and screaming over and over at that plastic owl.

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  12. Congratulations Sandra, and welcome. I'm going to have a look at your books. In the late 70s early 80s I was a USPHSIHS nurse in Tuba and then working for the Navajo Nation in Chinle. There are few jobs as rewarding as working on the reservation.

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    1. Ann, one day we have to interview you about the fascinating things you've done.

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    2. The stories you can tell!
      What's been happening with the Navajo Nation during the pandemic is devastating. The vaccination rates are now very impressive and becoming a role model, especially considering the remoteness and far-flung dwellings.

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  13. Sandra, you are an inspiration! And I am intrigued by your backdrop, which is unusual for today's mystery scene. Although I've been to 49 states, I've not yet seen the Grand Canyon, or many of the other dramatic geological sites in the American West. Canyon de Chelly, Arches, Red Rocks. Reading about them is the next best thing.

    Many years ago my orthodontist, then in his late 50's, was telling me about his jewelry hobby. He made exquisite gold and precious gem creations, and was beginning to get known for them. It was eventually his "retirement" activity. He said it was such a nice change from orthodontia, which takes as long as years to see results, and he found it quite satisfying.

    How does your writing life differ from your career as a doctor?

    I will turn 70 in October, God willing, and need to get on the stick if I'm going to stuff one more career into my many-storied life.

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    1. Oh, Karen - #1 on your bucket list should be seeing the Grand Canyon. Hopefully while people haven't returned to driving as much and the smog that shrouds it hasn't settled back.

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    2. I plan to go to the Grand Canyon after LCC in Albuquerque next year - I've never been, either!

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    4. What thoughtful questions. One of the best aspects of the canyon for me is affirming just how small and ephemeral our lives are. Some people find this gloomy, but I find it reassuring, that each of us has a tiny niche in the huge scheme of time. We only get a few years, so we must make the most of them. When there, try to walk at least a little way down the trail if you can, to get a perspective on that scope. But be careful -- the altitude is 7000 feet.

      My writing still involves much research, just like medicine. I'm constantly studying geologic ages and cosmic phenomenon (I tackle a lot of astronomy in these novels as well). It's very important to me that the medical cases are accurate and informative. Since medicine changes rapidly, that's a challenge, and I do include a disclaimer that the medicine may have shifted between the writing and the publication (!). The big difference in careers, though, is not having to worry that every patient encounter or decision might contain a hidden problem, that I might miss something important. That does wear you down. At the same time, I do miss the camaraderie and joy of working with dedicated people and seeing good outcomes.

      The first novel is not as much a mystery as the rest. Like I say, I found my way into that as I delved into plot and character development. Now I'm working on a first-person story that involves a 90-year-old woman and I've been interviewing 90-somethings to try to get that right. Such an enjoyable undertaking!

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    5. I can see how the stressors in the two careers could be vastly different.

      One of my daughters, who is a super-long distance runner (ultra marathons with thousands of feet of altitude change, just for fun), has run across the Grand Canyon--down, across, and back up--twice. Each time in a single day. The first time she ran it alone.

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  14. I've changed jobs, but never careers. I've been an accountant the entire time.

    And I've been people who are elderly at 65. And I've been people who aren't elderly at 80. It's more your body and your mind than a strict definition, at least for me.

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    1. It's also good luck with your genes, holding onto the railing, and avoiding speeding busses. :-)

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    2. Holding onto the railing -- I love it! That's especially critical at the Grand Canyon, needless to say. Don't challenge the signs about safety because people die there every year. A fascinating read about the perils is OVER THE EDGE: Death in Grand Canyon by Myers & Ghiglieri. It's an amazing account of all the known deaths, catalogued by mishap: falls, drownings, heatstroke, suicides, etc. Unfortunately, it has to be updated regularly....

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    3. Yes, I hold railings (my sense of balance is horrible) and pay attention to safety signs. They are there for a reason.

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  15. Sandra, I can't wait to read your books. The Grand Canyon is on my bucket list and I look forward to traveling there virtually for the time being.

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    1. You won't be disappointed. If you can possibly stay at the rim, either in one of the lodges or campgrounds, you'll have the best opportunities to see the canyon at all times of day and in all kinds of light. It is best to plan well in advance for that. And if you're not a hiker, consider a mule ride! So much fun. (again, reserve in advance). My novel coming out in May -- WHAT THE RIVER SAID -- features a subplot about a woman farrier (blacksmith) who shoes the canyon mules. Over the years, I've ridden to the river on a mule, walked it on my own 2 feet, and have ridden through it on a raft. There's nothing like it, so plan to spend enough time to soak it up.

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  16. Sandra, Welcome to JRW! When I saw your name Cavallo, I thought of that place in the North Bay called Cavallo Point. Have you visited that place in California?

    Age is relative. My grandfather, in his 80s, was thought to be in his 60s. He saw a doctor in his 40s for severe migraine headaches and the doctor put him on a special diet that sounded far fetched at that time, though it seems to be the norm these days - lots of vegetables and fruits, no salt nor sugar.

    And I remember seeing a documentary about a famous singer who died at the age of 48. She died before I was born. I was surprised that she was 48 years old because she looked like she was 80 or 90!

    Until the 20th century with medical advances, people usually did not live as long.

    To answer your question, I finally got my driver's license relatively later in life than other people who got their driver's licenses.

    Your books sounds fascinating!

    Diana

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  17. Congratulations on getting that late driver's license. I love it when we shift our own personal paradigms. We have to make choices all the time about where to go, what to do, who to be -- we are often limited by our imaginations. Sometimes we take a road that peters out, and sometimes it leads us on unanticipated journeys. What a ride.

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  18. Lovely! I love mysteries with geology or paleontology thrown in! My late life goals are to travel to foreign climes as much as possible. Covid sure put that on hold.

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    1. I know .... fingers crossed that the cloud of the pandemic hanging over us may start to drift away and you can resume your adventures. Our planet is endlessly fascinating and right at our fingertips. I've focused on the canyon in these notes but WHERE LIGHT COMES AND GOES is mostly at Yellowstone, an absolute playground of geysers and fumaroles that reminds us just how volatile our surroundings are. We should probably question our inclination to let thousands of people walk around there on top of a gigantic mass of magma....

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  19. Sandra, your books look really interesting. I will go looking for them.

    I turned 62 in December and am currently trying to get my head around the fact that retirement is fast approaching, and how I want to proceed. I think COVID, especially how at the beginning everything differentiated between age 60+ and the rest of the population, thrust me into facing my age more abruptly than I otherwise would have. I honestly never used to think about how I was getting older, and all of a sudden it is very real to me.

    Thank you, Sandra, and also many of you regulars on the JRW site, for being inspiring role models for me as I try to figure this out!

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    1. Very astute. I agree that Covid has caused many of us to re-evaluate our path and our future. Our lives feel both more fragile and more precious than ever. I'm even contemplating something zany, like coloring the tips of my hair -- maybe some sort of survival gesture, maybe defiance. What the heck.

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  20. ASU! Go Devils! Yes, we're an ASU family. Son 1 is there and Son 2 will likely follow. I love that you mentioned that we're all made of stardust - I've been glued to Percy landing on Mars. So thrilling! I think your series sounds fantastic and not just because I'm a big fan of the Canyon, having hiked it many times. Thanks so much for visiting us today. Whenever I feel old I look at the stars and think "Nah, I'm fine."

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  21. Kindred spirits. Arizona has a way of getting under your skin. It's beyond me why there is so little fiction placed at the canyon. Or so little fiction about women physicians, or family medicine -- what's out there is mostly hospital-based. I'm also excited about the public health novel (pre-Covid) coming out in September since it's a lot about living in the Phoenix area. The mystery plot in it is loosely based on a real physician. Enough said!

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  22. Hi Sandra - My first book was published the year I retired from my Public Affairs position with a government agency. My second was published two years later. I finished my third novel, but so far have done nothing with it as far as finding an agent or publisher. The pandemic threw me off my writing program but I plan to get back to it. So since my first novel was published the year I turned 65, I am also an "old" writer. I agree that it is an advantage - Stories from my days as a social worker, leaving that and moving to Arizona on my own at the age of 40. My own experiences as the only woman at a federal dam construction site. At our age we have just so much material to be mined and such a big frame of reference and perspective. All of this can be folded into our writing. You have truly embraced your new life as an author - your first three books are great and the next ones will be too. You are inspiring!

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  23. Thanks! I never dreamed this could be so fulfilling to create these stories and characters. I love the creative process, figuring it all out, improving it, making it work. Appreciate your support so very much.

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