Ask the Author: Tagan Shepard
Answered Questions (2)
Tagan Shepard
I always have a couple of projects going at once, that way if I get stuck on one, I can switch to the other until I figure out the first.
Right now I'm writing a first draft for a more action-packed romance novel and editing a sci-fi manuscript I wrote and then abandoned a couple of years ago. I finally feel ready to dive back in, but it is a much more laborious editing process than I usually have to do, which is somewhat daunting but also exciting.
Right now I'm writing a first draft for a more action-packed romance novel and editing a sci-fi manuscript I wrote and then abandoned a couple of years ago. I finally feel ready to dive back in, but it is a much more laborious editing process than I usually have to do, which is somewhat daunting but also exciting.
Tagan Shepard
We had a patient in my hospital who was admitted and confined to bed rest for two months at the end of her pregnancy. Every week or so she went through the procedure I describe in "Visiting Hours", and so the lab became pretty familiar with her name. In addition to preparing the procedure, once a week we were involved in drills to prepare for a possible crisis, working with a code team of about twenty people at a time who would be dedicated to her care and her care alone if something happened.
Because of the nature of my work, I never met her, but it’s not possible to put that much time and effort into a patient without caring about them. In the course of working her case, I started to wonder about her, her friends, and her family. I walked the halls and wondered if the people around me were friends of hers. People who loved her. I was intrigued by this woman and her predicament. Was she frightened? Bored? Excited? Who did she have to lean on? I didn’t know the real story, so I made up my own and used it to write my first novel.
That patient, someone I cared about and yet never met, inspired "Visiting Hours". Privacy laws prevent me from ever saying her name, but it’s a name I haven’t forgotten, even years later. I doubt I ever will. That’s how much she (and her healthy baby boy born without complication) meant to me.
Next time you or someone you love is in a hospital, remember that for every nurse and doctor you meet, there are a dozen people you will never meet who care about you and are working hard to make you well. They’re saving your life, but you just might be changing theirs.
Because of the nature of my work, I never met her, but it’s not possible to put that much time and effort into a patient without caring about them. In the course of working her case, I started to wonder about her, her friends, and her family. I walked the halls and wondered if the people around me were friends of hers. People who loved her. I was intrigued by this woman and her predicament. Was she frightened? Bored? Excited? Who did she have to lean on? I didn’t know the real story, so I made up my own and used it to write my first novel.
That patient, someone I cared about and yet never met, inspired "Visiting Hours". Privacy laws prevent me from ever saying her name, but it’s a name I haven’t forgotten, even years later. I doubt I ever will. That’s how much she (and her healthy baby boy born without complication) meant to me.
Next time you or someone you love is in a hospital, remember that for every nurse and doctor you meet, there are a dozen people you will never meet who care about you and are working hard to make you well. They’re saving your life, but you just might be changing theirs.
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more