https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BWYWLLN7
Not Violating HIPAA looks like a great book. What can you tell us about it?
An emergency department is set on
an alternate Olympic Peninsula (WA, USA), which recently cracked off the
mainland (spoiler: not a typical tectonic event). Many ED employees live with
psychiatric personality disorders. Most of the nursing staff side-gig as
pirates. A storytelling pharmacy tech reprograms personalities, a pediatric
nurse runs a crime family, and an environmental services detective solves
criminal cases while cleaning rooms.
The style is sort of humorous
slipstream, mixing science fiction, fantasy, alternate reality, and medical
fiction. Mr. Brogath, Teller of tales (https://www.fiverr.com/brogath) calls my writing
style “medical pulp.”
Oleksandr Pitura (https://www.freelancer.com/u/abudaby)
is a great illustrator. I met him just before Russia invaded his country. His
wife is a nurse, and they were so busy I wasn’t able to reach him for a period
and got really nervous, but I just looked
him up, and he seems to be keeping busy.
The cover designer, https://www.fiverr.com/rebecacovers?source=inbox, is also
Ukrainian.
Any plans to turn it
into a series?
Yes. NVH: Baseline combines the first two books, Jessica’s Path and Duncan’s
Gambit. Six to eight more traumas are planned, which will be told in three
or four books.
What scene or section
did you have the most fun writing?
That’s a good question. I
accumulate little bits and snippets, and I like to write haiku, so there are a
couple of fun and easy “breaks.” Bubbabubble
Mystery was a blast, and I had fun with Walter’s
Half.
What inspired the
idea for the book?
My background is in construction,
but I had a health scare in my forties and took classes to be a nurse aide,
thinking it would be easier. Physically, yes, it’s easier, but wow. Working in
a Level one trauma hospital emergency department, you see a lot of stuff. Feet
get cut off and forgotten in sinks.
People die no matter the quality of the compressions.
You need an outlet, but I stopped
drinking a long time ago. I write as a therapeutic release.
How did you come up
with the title for the book?
The assistant director of the
emergency department confronted me.
“I hear you’re writing stories.
Three things: 1) Be careful not to Violate HIPAA! 2) Fictionalize everything.
And 3) Don’t use me as a character.”
Did anything stick out
as particularly challenging when writing Not
Violating HIPAA?
Developing characters was
challenging but fascinating. I interviewed over two hundred hospital employees,
asking them what they would enjoy doing on a full-time basis if they didn’t
worry about wages or benefits. So many female nurses said they would travel
that I made them all pirates.
It’s an expensive hobby. I love
writing but hate going back and cleaning it up. I’ve hired friends and pros to
proofread, though I haven’t coughed up the money for a line edit yet (sorry!).
My wife is awesome and patient, but she gets that look.
What do you like to
do when not writing?
I like my job at the hospital and
have a great family, including my 15-month-old granddaughter. I’m also active
with my congregation and help with volunteer construction work.
Where can readers
find out more about your work?
They can visit my author’s page on
Amazon or find individual stories on Kindle Vella.
https://www.amazon.com/stores/Chris-P-Jackson/author/B09WY6Z82P
https://www.amazon.com/Not-Violating-HIPAA-Baseline/dp/B0BSDJNB2K
And here are some chapters from the
next book, the prequel, NVH: Preexisting Conditions
https://www.amazon.com/Johns-Options/dp/B09SVBQSZ6
If you want to see some of my
writing research, you’re welcome to visit my Facebook pages and blog that I’m
neglecting shamefully.
https://www.facebook.com/CPJwriter
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100090345466256
https://www.blogger.com/u/2/blog/posts/5572741810152051400