This interview was original posted on the Hott Books blog as part of my Virtual Book Tour.
What inspired you to write your first book?
After leaving a long career in psychiatry, I wanted a creative outlet to explore new territory. During the journaling associated with Caroline Myss’s book, Sacred Contracts: Awakening Your Divine Potential, I began to focus on pivotal moments in my life where I experienced a worldview shift. As Robert Holden, Ph.D. describes in his book, Shift Happens!, these moments of “personal alchemy” fundamentally transform your perspective—creating such profound change that you emerge as a different person entirely, with no possibility of returning to your former worldview.
The inspiration for Tangled Darkness emerged during this journaling process. Characters started appearing in my writing, and the criminal scheme that drives the story began to take shape. When I mentioned the idea of writing a novel to my wife during a walk—just as COVID lockdown began—she offered her encouragement and support, though she preferred not to collaborate on this particular project.
By then, we’d lived in Portland, Oregon for about five years. The city’s unique atmosphere—rain-soaked streets, moody skies, its sordid past, and distinctive community spirit—provided the perfect backdrop. After years of reading psychological thrillers that didn’t reflect the diversity I encountered in my practice and community, I wanted to create a story featuring complex female characters, LGBTQ+ representation, and authentic mental health challenges.
Writing fiction became a way to continue exploring human psychology after retiring from direct patient care—a second act that honored my medical career while allowing me to engage with people in an entirely new way.
If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?
I might give Detective Davis more depth and complexity. In early drafts, he served primarily as an investigative foil for Leslie, but feedback from my writing group suggested readers wanted to understand him better. While I added some backstory during revisions, there’s still room to explore his motivations and personal life more fully. I’m actually planning to use his character as the protagonist in book three of the series.
I’d also streamline some of the medical explanations. My editors constantly reminded me that not every reader needs to understand how buprenorphine is metabolized! I sometimes overwrote those sections out of professional thoroughness, but I’ve learned that in fiction, technical accuracy must be balanced with narrative flow.
Honestly, if you could see the various drafts of Tangled Darkness, you’d realize how dramatically the story evolved from conception to final product. At this point, I don’t think there’s much more I’d change fundamentally.
The writing process taught me valuable lessons I’m applying to my second novel. I learned to make each character visually clear when first introduced and to remind readers of their appearance throughout the story. I also became better at grounding readers in setting and time as each scene begins. My second book will feature a murder in Portland as citizens of Durango, Colorado are in town for a conference, with much of the story unfolding in Durango itself. I’m excited about weaving some of Durango’s Old West history into the narrative. Overall, I’m satisfied with how Tangled Darkness turned out, especially for a debut novel that taught me so much about the craft.
Who has impacted your life the most and in what way?
My wife has unquestionably had the greatest impact on my life. We met twenty-seven years ago when I had just moved from Minneapolis to Phoenix, starting from scratch to build a private practice and working long hours. I could tell we were on the same wavelength from the moment we met.
Not long after, I decided to try working with a personal trainer for the first time. Liz wanted to join, so we arranged to work out together—brutal fun, since I hadn’t exercised regularly in years. We had a blast and eventually started dating when the timing felt right.
Years later, when she suggested moving to Portland, I said, “Well, we’d better visit first,” knowing it would mean ending my Phoenix practice. Once again, we embarked on another adventure, opening the door to an incredible new chapter. Without that move, I don’t know whether I would have started writing fiction—Portland has an amazing writing and book-loving community. Liz sometimes reads my work and serves as an honest critic. Whether it’s an early draft or recent piece, she’ll take the pages and simply say, “Get me a red pen.”
Beyond her influence on my writing, she’s taught me to embrace uncertainty. After decades in medicine where every decision carried weight, learning to play with words without knowing the outcome has been liberating. She’s shown me that the most interesting paths are often those without clear destinations—as long as we’re home in time for dinner.
What event in your life do you remember first when asked for a humorous story?
During my mid-twenties, I spent my family practice rotation in my hometown of Grand Island, Nebraska, staying at my parents’ condo for two months. When my mother showed interest in learning about hypnosis and discovered a local workshop, she asked if I wanted to join her.
My response is one I’ve never lived down. I was young, naive, and fiercely dedicated to finishing medical school and residency training. At the time, I was seriously considering internal medicine as my specialty—I hadn’t taken any psychiatric rotations yet, so this was before I fell in love with psychiatry.
My earnest response was: “Is hypnosis approved by the AMA?” My mother burst into hilarious laughter. It’s become a story I share often, given my embarrassment at such youthful rigidity. My wife still teases me by asking, “I don’t know—is that approved by the AMA?”
Ironically, that rotation involved following our family doctor, Stan Nabity, MD, around his office and hospital practice as his apprentice. What a wonderful physician he was! One evening, he and his wife invited my parents and me for dinner, where he demonstrated hypnosis using one of his daughters as the subject. He explained how he found hypnosis helpful in his practice and later shared specific situations where he felt it was indicated.
The whole experience taught me that sometimes the most valuable healthcare tools aren’t tests and medications—and that asking, “Is it AMA-approved?” is nearly never the right first question.
