Who am I?
I must confess that the challenge of writing a post introducing myself caused me to spin off into a brief but dramatic existential crisis where I stared at my blank computer screen for a few hours wondering who I was. Eventually my writer’s group poured some ice water over my head and I snapped out of it long enough to write a list.
Here goes:
I am:
—A Wife. I’m married to a smart, funny, handsome guy, who was once my chief resident. More on this later.
—A Mama. I have three delightful children, who spend their days devising clever parenting challenges for me to solve. I figure I can post funny stories about them here for at least a few months before they find out and start a revenge website.
—A Doctor. I’m a reformed ER physician, which indirectly led to me becoming a writer because, you know, the humanity. You cannot work in my field without getting bowled over daily by all the anguish and glory of life. Not to mention the humor.
—A Nerd. Reading is my superpower. I read everything when it comes to fiction: all genres, all subjects, at least three books a week. Regarding nonfiction, I read mainly science and medical books, with a sprinking of popular culture, sociology, and history. I’m an information junkie.
—A Novelist. I started by making book recommendations and branched out to my own book review website. (Which is where you should go, immediately, if you need ideas on what to read!) Then I started interviewing authors and writing social commentary and opinion pieces for some national websites. Now, by some miracle, I have written three novels centered around the medical profession. More on that later too.
—A Teacher. Despite the inefficient hell I suffer through when producing my own novels, I’ve discovered I like guiding other people through the process. I also teach Narrative Medicine courses for various medical schools and hospitals, which is a whole other thing.
—A Traveler. I love getting out of my bubble! I also write travelogues, where I detail all the things I manage to screw up on trips.
—An Opinionated Hothead. This will become apparent if you read my columns. I have a lot of thoughts about our current state of disinformation and corruption in society. There is such a thing as objective truth. (Don’t get philosophical on me here, please.) We all know it: some things are true and some things are not true. If the best and overwhelming majority of available evidence points to a thing being true and you don’t like it, you may be able to change the terminology, you may be able to cancel the funding, you may be able to alter the report, you may be able to attack the messenger, you may be able to hide the information, you may be able to lie and say you won the election, you may be able to do everything in your power to deny it—but you cannot change the truth. I—and millions of others like me—will fight to bring it to light.
—A Hypocrite. I have utopian ideals I do not, myself, always manage to implement. I also get stuff very wrong on occasion. Mea culpa.
I Am Not:
—A Dancer. I’m enthusiastic but uncoordinated: basically Elaine from Seinfeld, except I’m tall with long arms and legs. (If you rated me on an arm-length scale ranging from T-rex to ape, I’d be 100% ape.) Nobody really wants to see that on the dance floor, amirite??
—A Singer: I have a decent two-note range. On every other note, my voice breaks. This doesn’t always stop me, though: sometimes I like to wail it out with my eyes closed, especially in church. (Side note: I’m Presbyterian, and the nickname for Presbyterians is the frozen chosen, so you can imagine how hilarious I must look.)
—Organized. Writing a post every week is going to kill me.
—On time. See above.
What is This Week’s Emergency?
Subscribe to get full access to This Week’s Emergency newsletter. I write a bimonthly-ish column on the following topics:
Medicine and science
Battling disinformation
Book recommendations
Writing (especially fiction)
Navigating the publishing industry
Parenting, especially the humorous aspects
I’ll also occasionally include author interviews and novel excerpts (including deleted scenes from my published books), as well as columns on travel, interior design, geopolitics, social issues, the process of applying to college, my experience with Long Covid, and, finally, my ultra-quirky dog, Charlie.
Other Ways To Find Me:
My Other Website: Again— book recommendations, author interviews, travelogues, and blog posts. If you’re a book nerd, you will like it.
Instagram: I kinda thought I’d dislike Insta, because I communicate better with words than photos. But I was wrong. I LOVE Insta. There’s something so satisfying about all those gorgeous aesthetics. Bookstagrammers! Fashionistas! Travel freaks! Foodies! Whatever you love, you can drool over it there. I’m currently obsessed with #shelfies.
Twitter: I’ve suspended my account because Elon Musk. But also: I am not succinct.
Facebook: This is an auxiliary outpost of my website, basically. I do love FB for staying connected to far-flung peeps and my 5000 writer/doctor/mama groups. Sometimes I publish opinion pieces and lifestyle stuff there too.
Goodreads: I don’t personally go on Goodreads anymore because I’m a snivelly snowflake when it comes to disdainful reviews. However, I am hoping at some point someone will click on the Want To Read thingie by my books. Or leave an adoring review.
Amazon: If you sign up and I manage to write another book, you’ll get notified. Seems worthwhile, yeah? Or you can order The Queen of Hearts, The Antidote for Everything, and Doctors and Friends here. Even better, you can support your local indie bookstore by buying here.
About My Books:
I took the ubiquitous advice hurled at all novice writers—write what you know—and ran with it. Therefore my working title for my first book in its early phases was Doctors Behaving Badly.** Eventually cooler heads prevailed and my writing group retitled it Trauma Queen, an amusing and apt title that was immediately rejected by the publisher. After I suggested 78,409 other titles, we settled on The Queen of Hearts for my first novel, which was published in 2018 by Penguin Random House.
The story centers around the friendship between a cerebral but scattered cardiologist, and a cerebral and introspective trauma surgeon, one of whom is hiding a significant secret from the other. My publisher described it as a fusion of Big Little Lies and Grey’s Anatomy, which I think is pretty accurate: it’s entertaining, it’s smart, and it has a compelling blend of drama, humor, death, betrayal, romance, and intrigue, along with an insider’s peek behind the scenes in the medical profession … as well as some very normal family dysfunction. Whew.
**Actually, doctors behave well overall but that would have made for a boring book. I would also like to stress to everyone, particularly my mother and my husband, that this book is NOT AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL.
My second novel is called The Antidote for Everything, and it is also about two doctors—urologist and a family medicine doc, who are the closest of friends—whose hospital system issues an ultimatum against treating trans patients. To the guy on Amazon who said this sounded implausible when the book was released, the story was inspired by real events. (And I don’t think it seems so implausible these days, unfortunately.)
Finally, my third novel Doctors and Friends was NOT inspired by real events, but in an unfortunate twist of fate, it is about a group of female doctors who are traveling together during what turns out to be … wait for it … a brand-new, worldwide viral pandemic. I researched it, drafted it, and sold it to the publisher in 2019, and it was revised a bit in early 2020, but it wasn’t published until 2021. By that point, as you know, everyone on earth had become a virology expert. In terms of a societal response to a pandemic, I depicted some things accurately and got some things very, very wrong. I’d be curious to hear your thoughts!
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Thanks for reading!
XX, Kimmery
PRAISE FOR THE NOVELS OF KIMMERY MARTIN
Martin leverages her own background as a doctor to great effect throughout —THE NEW YORK TIMES * Riveting ... convey[s] the deeply personal as well as the bigger picture —PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (Starred Review) * [A] gem of a story —LIBRARY JOURNAL(Starred Review) * Sweeping in scope and impact ... compelling to its core —BOOKLIST (Starred Review) * Prescient, human and hopeful —PEOPLE MAGAZINE * Complex characters ... [who] nearly jump off the page —NEWSWEEK * A book for our times—GOODREADS * Heartwarming and humorous —THE SOUTHERN PINES PILOT * Martin's trademark witty repartee ... both entertains and tackles thought-provoking questions of honor and integrity —BOOKLIST * A great medical drama —BUST * One of those books that just never stops surprising you —HYPABLE * [You'll be] alternately pondering the finer points of medical ethics and laughing out loud — TOWNCAROLINA MAGAZINE * A stunning debut —BOOKTRIB * Difficult to put down ... [an] excellent story —PUBLISHERS WEEKLY * Fans of Grey’s Anatomy are sure to enjoy —SOUTHERN LIVING * Engrossing, funny—THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER * Just the right balance of intensity, plot twists, tragedy, and humor —BOOKLIST * Wow. Just wow. This book was spectacular —THE SUDBURY STAR (Ontario) * An irresistible mix of romance, ER drama, friendship and betrayal —BOOKPAGE * A funny and real examination of female friendships and modern parenthood —ALA BBOOK CLUB CENTRAL * Impressive ... full of warmth and excitement —THE HARVARD CRIMSON
AND FINALLY...
Love, death, humor, secrets, hot doctor sex, and a medical procedure performed with a fork.
Does that sound like something you might be interested in reading?
— SOUTHBOUND PODCAST on NPR
