This episode’s guest is Dr. Audrey Miller, an obstetrician, gynecologist, and published author. She discusses her professional background, her book Birth Order, her time working with our physicians, and more.
Transcript
Dr. Mironda Williams:
Welcome to Take Good Care podcast, an endeavor that grew out of our love for obstetrics and gynecology. Our aim and mission is to serve as a source of vital information for women of all races, ages, and walks in life. I am Dr. Mironda Williams.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
I am Dr. Deanna Guthrie.
Dr. Karen Greene:
And I am Dr. Karen Greene.
Dr. Mironda Williams:
Welcome to our show.
Dr. Karen Greene:
Welcome to our show.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
Welcome to our show.
Dr. Mironda Williams:
Welcome to today’s episode of Take Good Care podcast. I’m Dr. Mironda Williams.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
I’m Dr. Deanna Guthrie.
Dr. Karen Greene:
And I am Dr. Karen Greene.
Dr. Mironda Williams:
So, those of you who have followed us through our evolution of our podcast may remember that season one, episode one, we did an origin story. And in that origin story of how we all got together, we talked about, we mentioned that we were just missing our fourth wheel, that for many years we had another partner with us in our practice. And before we changed our name to Rosa Gynecology, we were formerly known as Peachtree City Obstetrics & Gynecology. And at that time we had a lot of fun with our current guest today, Dr. Audrey Miller, who is here with us remotely, and this is our fourth wheel of that awesome quartet, them Peachtree City girls. And we had ourselves a good time.
Dr. Audrey Miller:
Yes, we did.
Dr. Mironda Williams:
So, welcome Audrey.
Dr. Audrey Miller:
Thank you.
Dr. Mironda Williams:
And before I get too caught up in our conversation, our YouTube audience and our website audience knows that we have a video platform as well. And I always love, my favorite part, is to say that we are live and on the air. So, we have Dr. Audrey Miller here with us today, who is an outstanding obstetrician gynecologist, and we’ll talk about that. Again, we were in practice for many years together before she went off to great and wonderful things. But one of the things that, or the main thing we want to talk about today, is the fact that she is a published author. And we have her book on display on our table here, Birth Order, and she’s going to talk to us about her writing process and everything related to that.
But Audrey has many, many, many interests, many talents, but among those is that Audrey loves all things royal. And so, Birth Order is a love story, mystery, historic, royal, all of those things, latent story. So Audrey, welcome, and please tell our audience a little bit more about where you’re from, where you went to school, how you ended up in Atlanta, how we connected, just all those fun things. And then we’ll talk about your book and your writing process.
Dr. Audrey Miller:
Okay. Well, thank you all for having me, and I miss working with you all. And it was a great run that we had for eight years, hasn’t really been the same since. But hey, but we’re here and this is great, so thank you all for having me. I was born and raised in St. Louis Missouri, and I went to college in undergrad in California. I went to Stanford, I went to Michigan, University of Michigan for medical school, and I did my residency training there.
And when I was finishing my residency program, I said, “I’m done with winter. That’s it.” I had spent a summer in Atlanta when I was in medical school and had such a great time that I decided that I really wanted to come back, or go to Atlanta. And so, with the help of a recruiter, I found Rosemarie Schultz and Mironda, Karen, Deanna and Becky, and was thrilled to join Peachtree City OB. As a matter of fact, Karen and I started on the same day.
Dr. Karen Greene:
Same time, yeah.
Dr. Audrey Miller:
It was August 5th, 1996.
Dr. Karen Greene:
Right with the Olympics.
Dr. Audrey Miller:
Yep, during the Olympics. So it was a fun, fun summer, and we had a really, really great run for many, many years. So, let’s see. So, then just life took me to other places. I left Peachtree City and I moved to the New York area, and practiced OB-GYN in Greenwich, Connecticut. And then I moved, slowly made my way down back down to Atlanta. I was trying. And first hit was North Carolina to Charlotte, and then I was in Columbia, South Carolina for many years. I was there for 12 years, longer than I was with any practice. And then, I moved back to the Atlanta area just last year, and now I’m just currently working as a hospitalist at Fayette Hospital. So, just did my shift last night, so I had to put some cover stick on.
Dr. Mironda Williams:
Bless your heart.
Dr. Audrey Miller:
Try to make myself look presentable. I know, I know. And here I am.
Dr. Mironda Williams:
Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
And welcome back to Atlanta.
Dr. Mironda Williams:
Absolutely.
Dr. Audrey Miller:
Thank you, happy to be here.
Dr. Mironda Williams:
Yes. And you have the travel bug, and you have gone all over the world, had wonderful travels, but when did the writing bug hit you? How did all this come about?
Dr. Audrey Miller:
I always felt like I had a book in me, I just didn’t know what it was about, whether it was going to be autobiographical, or was it going to be fiction or non-fiction, but I knew that it was in me. And then I was just going through my life, and one day I was at the grocery store, I was at Publix in Columbia, and it was in 2012. And this was at the time that the Queen of England had just signed the amendment to the Act of Succession, which was a law that was passed down since 1701. And that was a law that stated many things, but one of the many things that it said was that the future monarch of England will be the firstborn male. And so, it also had some things like you had to be, in order to get married if you were up to sixth in line to the throne you had to ask permission of the monarch. And it also said that those sitting monarch could not be Catholic.
And so, these were many other things, but they were part of the laws that really dictated the entire peerage system of Great Britain where they have the dukes, and the viscounts, and the I mean, all the different levels of the peerage system. So anyway, so I was just waiting to check out at Publix, and this was also … So, two things happened. So, the amendment to the Act of Succession that stated now that the future monarch could be the firstborn child and not the firstborn male. So, that was huge. And so, Queen Elizabeth had just signed that. And then at the same time, Kate was pregnant with her first pregnancy with now who is Baby George, Prince George.
And at the time the tabloids will say, “Well, oh, she’s expecting a boy, she’s expecting a girl, she’s expecting twins.” And me being an OB-GYN said, “Well, what if she was expecting twins?”
Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
What do you do in that case?
Dr. Mironda Williams:
What do they do?
Dr. Audrey Miller:
There’s never been twins. And then, me being a history major actually in undergrad, and so it made me want to go back and just look at this. Have there ever been any twins in Great Britain? And no, there have not, not within the royal family. There were in the 1400s in Scotland or something, so that doesn’t count. So, then I just started thinking, “Well, what if some unscrupulous OB-GYN, like who would actually have control over which baby gets born first?”
Dr. Mironda Williams:
Which came out first.
Dr. Audrey Miller:
Because we’ve all been in situations where you have twins, or in residency we were doing triplets and stuff. I mean, whoever comes out, whatever baby comes out first, it doesn’t matter if it’s baby A or B, or whatever it is, the first baby that comes out is just the oldest and the first. And so, then I started thinking, “Well, who actually has control over this?” Well, the OB is the only person on earth who would actually have control over this situation, like nobody else. And especially if you have a situation where you have to deliver by C-section. And so, then you really don’t, the only person really. And so I was like, “Well, what if she had some sort of obstetrical condition that mandated a C-section?”
Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
So, all these thoughts go through in your mind-
Dr. Mironda Williams:
See, I wonder where these thoughts came from.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
… in the line at Publix.
Dr. Mironda Williams:
… in the line at the grocery store.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
At Publix.
Dr. Audrey Miller:
In the line at Publix, yes.
Dr. Mironda Williams:
That’s why I was like, “Okay, where did all this come from?”
Dr. Audrey Miller:
Clearly I had too much time on my hands. Right. So clearly, and it must’ve been a long line, but I remember thinking about it like putting my bags in the car and all that. And boredom is the devil’s playground. I was in Columbia, and it was very quiet living there. So anyway, so I just started thinking about all this stuff. And so, then I just got home and I started writing down all these questions, “What if, what if, what if, what if, what if?” And I came up with, I don’t know, 30 what-ifs. And then I had actually just come from a funeral from a very, very dear friend of mine, and he was a writer who lived in New York, and Donald had always encouraged me to write.
And we had grown up together in St. Louis. And I went to the funeral and I met some of his friends who were writers. And so, one woman I made good friends with, and so we exchanged numbers. And then when I had this idea I pitched it to her and I said, “Well, what do you think?” And she’s like, “Oh, it’s a great idea. Call your agent.” And I’m like, “Well, I don’t have an agent.” So, I just started writing. And the first scene that I wrote was actually the delivery, because that’s what I knew. And so basically, it was just a long operative note. It was a very detailed op note, which ended up really getting cut and whittled way down to accommodate somebody who doesn’t know obstetrics.
Dr. Karen Greene:
But what I appreciate about that was that you could tell it was written from a medical point of view-
Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
Right, a true medical.
Dr. Karen Greene:
… a true medical point of view, but enough for the people that weren’t medical could understand it. Because the thing I hate a lot of times when I’m watching TV shows, I’m like, “They wouldn’t do that. That’s not right.”
Dr. Audrey Miller:
Right. Oh, I know.
Dr. Mironda Williams:
It’s like, “That’s not right.”
Dr. Karen Greene:
That’s not right, that’s not right.
Dr. Audrey Miller:
Right. That’s why I really don’t watch a lot of the medical shows because they’re so ridiculous. I mean, it’s like that wouldn’t happen like that. Right. So I started with the op note, and then I just came up with my characters, I came up with my … And also I was going through a divorce at the same time too. And so, of course my character had to be going through a divorce, so I think it was part catharsis-
Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
They say write what you know.
Dr. Mironda Williams:
Write what you know.
Dr. Audrey Miller:
Right, right, exactly. And then you have to research. I mean, to get one paragraph it could take hours of research. This is why Angela, my protagonist, at first she was American practicing in Great Britain, but she can’t do that because she would have had to go through a residency there, probably go through medical school. And so, in order to practice in Great Britain, I mean, it’s easier to be British. You can’t just be an American and just say, “Oh, yeah, I just want to practice overseas.” So, that’s why it’s like she was British, but then she had some time in the United States to learn how to do a nice boutique practice, and then she brought that back. And so, then yeah, I just started coming up with different storylines, running things by.
I mean, there was a long time, probably a year, that I really didn’t run anything by anybody. But I would come home from work, and I hadn’t even made an outline at the time, but I would come home from work. I had two dogs at the time, and I would walk them, and then just sit down and I didn’t have anything else to do, so I would just start writing, and thinking of things, and outlining and stuff like that. And then about a year into it, I had just a skeleton, what I thought was a skeleton. And then when I went back to New York for some reason, and I had lunch with my friend Nancy, who was the writer I was telling you about who was encouraging to me, she’s like, “Well, so what’s the book about?”
And I was like, “Uh, um, uh.” And I gave this long-drawn-out thing, and it just takes years to figure out, or it’s a concerted effort to figure out how can you say succinctly what the book is about? How can you explain it to people? I mean, all this was learned, I didn’t know any of it.
Dr. Mironda Williams:
Right, because that’s what I was trying to remember, because I didn’t think you had a writing or a … I didn’t realize, I forgot you were a history major. I’m like, “How do you get to this point where you get this book?” Because you’re essentially teaching yourself as you’re going along, is what I hear you saying. You have a thought, it leads you down a path. You have to research it, you have to figure that out. But you had not at that point gone to any kind of writing course, or done a retreat, or anything like that. So, you’re just figuring it out as you’re going along and doing the research, and getting your ideas down on paper.
Dr. Audrey Miller:
Right. And I worked on it for a year, then put it down. I mean, this whole process took, what, ’21 … Like nine years. And so, it took a long time so it wasn’t like immediate. It took a long time. And I had moved to a house in Columbia, and so my mind was on other things. So it was 2016, I think, where I had thought that I had enough there to … Like I said, it’s a thriller but it’s not thrilling. And I had been reading a lot of books, and we love to research stuff, and “Let’s get a book about how to write. Let’s get a book about books.” And so, I had all this stuff, I had gotten on MasterClass and I had done …
There were some really good writers who had really good master classes that I thought was helpful, books on writing. And then the main thing was I actually went to my first retreat, and it was in Virginia at some park, and they had cabins and stuff. And there were, I don’t know, like 60 of us. There were five cabins, they had 12 people in a cabin, people from all over the country. And you would get about an hour in the morning, an hour in the evening with an editor. And so, you would talk about your book and stuff, and that was when I had the most productive feedback that I ever had, and where I actually sat down and wrote an outline.
And so, just in those five days that we were just sitting at this park, that’s when I actually got an outline that started to make sense. And then after that, I worked on it. And then, let’s see, I went to a retreat with another guy. What is his name? James Bonnet. James Bonnet was a writer for Kojak or something way back in the ’70s. ’70s or ’80s. But he did these writing courses. I mean, there was an enormous industry. I mean, it’s got to be a billion-dollar industry of people helping writers with agents and then editors. I mean, all of this stuff. I mean, it’s unbelievable.
And so, he did a writer’s course that was a really good retreat in France, actually, in a little tiny town. And so, that’s when I had my outline and I had where I thought the story should begin. And then again, he changes all of it. And then he goes, “Well, why are you writing that Angela’s divorced, and you’re bringing all this divorce stuff into your story?” I said, “Well, that’s what she was going through at the time and all that.” He goes, ‘But the story begins when the divorce is final, so why are you even going back there?” And I’m like, “Because I want revenge.”
Dr. Mironda Williams:
Because I’m writing from where I am, I need to get it out.
Dr. Audrey Miller:
I’m writing from where I am, and I went with it.
Dr. Mironda Williams:
Well, that was cathartic. So, that was good.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
That’s your next book, that’s your next book.
Dr. Audrey Miller:
Right. So anyway, so I mean, I had to cut a whole lot. But there were a couple of events, like those writers conferences where I really got a lot of great insight about how the story should be structured. And then, I think the first time when I thought my manuscript was actually finished, that was in, it was Christmas, I think, of 2017, where I thought I was done. And that was maybe version number seven I think I had in the book. So once you get a manuscript, then the traditional way is to find yourself a literary agent.
There hundreds of literary agents. There’s books with just lists of different literary agents, but most of the time you can just find them online. There’s some different websites. The names I can’t remember right off the top of my head right now, but they have lists, “This is what I’m looking for,” stuff like that. So, then you just see if there’s a match, and then you have to send them an email. And now it used to be back in the day that you would just take your manuscript and you would literally put your entire manuscript in the mail. But now, thank God, that you save a lot of space and time just sending email. So, they’ll ask you for, it’s called a query letter. And the query letter has three things in it, the hook, which is what is the story about? Just one or two sentences. The book. And then the next paragraph goes into a little bit more detail. And then the cook, which is the person who, a little about yourself and why you feel like you can write this book.
And so, I started sending out query letters, and then usually they’ll ask you for maybe the first 30 pages of your novel. And so, I would send that off. And then, it’s very humbling to do that because they’ll say, “No, not interested. It sounds interesting, but you don’t write well,” or something. I mean, they’ll say something, “I just couldn’t get into it,” or something. And so, after that first round of querying I realized I just needed to work on the book a lot more. You think you’re done, you’re really not done. And then, I got an editor who basically really helped me rearrange the entire book.
And so, it was like, “Let’s just take out all these chapters and we’re going to just toss them all up, and then we’re going to put it in a better arrangement to make it more thrilling, just build more suspense.” And so, we did that, I sent another round of queries. This time I got maybe two or three requests for the full manuscript. And so, you send off the whole manuscript and you do it online, you’re really excited. And then they’ll come back and say, “Well, thank you but no thank you.” So, I did that-
Dr. Karen Greene:
Did you keep any of those prior manuscripts-
Dr. Mironda Williams:
Oh, I’m sure she did.
Dr. Karen Greene:
… or how it was organized in the past? And have you kept all that stuff, or did you get rid of it entirely?
Dr. Audrey Miller:
No, no, no. I didn’t get rid of anything.
Dr. Mironda Williams:
Yeah, because that’s a lot of work.
Dr. Karen Greene:
Yeah, that is a lot of work.
Dr. Audrey Miller:
It’s a lot of work. And there are some-
Dr. Mironda Williams:
When was the book published? When did you get it out in the form that we have here?
Dr. Audrey Miller:
It was in 2021.
Dr. Mironda Williams:
So, right in the midst of the whole pandemic issues as well.
Dr. Audrey Miller:
Yeah. And that actually gave me, it was a good opportunity for me to get some work done on it.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
So, did you sit down every day for an hour? How did you do that process? Or is it just when you found time you just sat and wrote?
Dr. Audrey Miller:
No, I think starting around 2019, 2018, I was pretty much at it almost every day, even if it’s a little bit. I mean, mostly every day. After work, being on call, because we had to stay in the hospital on call. So, being on call was really a great opportunity, because at the time it was a brand new hospital so it wasn’t very busy. So I mean, I would have all my papers and everything lined up in a conference room that we had in the hospital. So, call was actually a really great opportunity for me to get a lot of-
Dr. Mironda Williams:
Some concentrated time.
Dr. Audrey Miller:
… stuff done. Yeah.
Dr. Karen Greene:
So, when you finally got what we see today, how do you get to the point of publishing it and the decision to self-publish? Or how do you arrive at that conclusion of, “Okay, now I have this baby, what am I going to do with it?”
Dr. Audrey Miller:
This was all timing. So, at the time we just had William and Kate, and they had two kids, I think. So I said, “As long as the Royals are having babies, I’m in business.” Because I wanted to take advantage of just, this was out there in the zeitgeist, people were writing a little bit more about the Royals at the time. And so, I worked with a couple of different editors to really get it in shape. And then when it was in the shape that I and the editors were really happy with, I submitted it for … Oh, no. Okay. So, I submitted it for two rounds of queries, and then I kept editing the book from there.
And then we got to the point where Harry and Meghan had gotten married. And I love the fact that Meghan was mixed race, because in my book I started dealing with these issues, and Angela, my protagonist was a mixed race. But so, I thought at the time I was ready for a third round of querying, but by then it was in 2001, no, 2021, or end of 2020, Meghan and Harry were already married and they already had their first baby, Archie. And so, I read in some magazine somewhere Harry’s like, “We’re only going to have one or two kids.” And I’m like, “Oh my God.” So, that was actually a major impetus for me to get this out-
Dr. Mironda Williams:
Okay. “I got to get this out, I got to get it done.”
Dr. Audrey Miller:
And then during the pandemic, crickets, everything’s quiet. And then all of a sudden it was like Valentine’s Day 2021, and Harry and Meghan publish a picture, I think it was in the New York Times or something, of them sitting underneath a tree and she’s clearly pregnant, and they’re expecting another baby. So this was in February, and again, the OB-GYN and me, I’m looking at her bump.
Dr. Mironda Williams:
How far along is she? When is this baby coming?
Dr. Audrey Miller:
I thought at the time, I’m like, “She looks like she’s like 28 weeks,” just from the bump, just strictly because of that. And then I wheeled out when she was going to be due, and I’m like, “There’s no way I’m going to get this book to an agent, accepted by an agent, and published by June.”
Dr. Mironda Williams:
In 12 weeks. I’ll do it myself.
Dr. Audrey Miller:
And I said, and Harry even himself said, “We’re only going to have one or two kids.” So I’m like, “I’ve got to get this book out and I’ve got to get it out now.” So, that’s exactly what I did-
Dr. Mironda Williams:
That’s smart though. It really is.
Dr. Karen Greene:
Only an OB-GYN would-
Dr. Mironda Williams:
Take advantage of all that.
Dr. Karen Greene:
That’s what I’m trying to say, yeah.
Dr. Audrey Miller:
Right, because I have a due date. And so, and it turns out that I beat her, I beat Meghan by a week or two weeks. I mean, I was very, very close.
Dr. Mironda Williams:
You were pretty good. That was a great estimate from a bump.
Dr. Karen Greene:
From a bump.
Dr. Audrey Miller:
Right, just from a bump. So yeah, so that’s why I decided to go on ahead and self-publish.
Dr. Mironda Williams:
Yeah, that’s wonderful. Now Karen, we were talking a little bit about Audrey’s book, and just tell your impression. You were talking about how the book reads, how you were able to say, “Oh,” you sat down and you were able to really get through it.
Dr. Karen Greene:
Yeah. I’m an avid reader, and so I couldn’t wait to get it. Because I was like, “Okay,” and I didn’t really know all of the history, and I’m not an anglophile so I don’t follow any of that stuff. So for me, there was a lot of information just in terms of the descriptions of the places and the plot line. And so, it kept me interested to the point where I was finding myself just reading it and staying up at night trying to see what’s going to happen next, what’s going to happen next, what’s going to happen next? And so, I was excited, and I’m not biased, but I was very excited to read it-
Dr. Audrey Miller:
Thank you.
Dr. Karen Greene:
… because it was interesting. It was interesting, like I said, from a personal point of view as an OB-GYN, but also just the little bit of intrigue. There was a little bit of sexism, there’s a little bit of racism, there’s a little bit of class, all the isms-
Dr. Mironda Williams:
All the things.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
Isms.
Dr. Karen Greene:
… they were in there. And I was thinking, “Well, how did she put all this stuff in here?” By the end of the book I was thinking, “Okay, when’s she going to write the next one?” I mean, quite frankly-
Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
The sequel.
Dr. Karen Greene:
… I really was imagining it because I could see it as, I could see it as a TV program. I even told Audrey this. I said, “I could see this as a TV program. I don’t know who’s going to star this part, but when are you going to get the next one? We need a sequel on this one.”
Dr. Mironda Williams:
Especially with all the Bridgerton hype now.
Dr. Karen Greene:
Right, exactly.
Dr. Audrey Miller:
Oh, I know.
Dr. Mironda Williams:
Everybody’s into all of that. So I mean, the timing is everything. Timing is everything. What do you think you learned about yourself during the process? What do you think or how do you think it changed you in any way personally?
Dr. Audrey Miller:
I learned a lot actually, and that’s a good question. I learned it’s important to finish something. That if you have something that you want to accomplish, you’ll never get to where you want to be, you’ll never be able to show something to the world if it’s not a finished product. And it translates to other personal things. I mean, get out of your own way. I think sometimes the hardest thing that you have to change is just change your mind. And that’s something that just writing this book taught me, whether it’s a character issue, whether it’s I want to get this done this way, it’s like to be patient and to be open, and again, to finish, and most importantly to believe in yourself.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
I was going to say, after getting all those, like you said, the process of going through all the queries to keep pushing. Not saying, “Well, I’m not going to-“
Dr. Audrey Miller:
Right. I mean, I have a very good friend who’s written four books. It’s just, she’ll get discouraged. It’s very discouraging sending out 200 queries, and you may only get one or two, “I’ll read it,” and then after that it’s like, “Nope.” But I knew that nothing would happen if I didn’t finish it. It would just be just sitting on my computer, or-
Dr. Mironda Williams:
Just a thought, a hope, an idea.
Dr. Audrey Miller:
… every now and again I’d print it out. Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely. So yeah, I consider it one of my biggest accomplishments, just being able, even with the self-publishing, even getting that done. I mean, it was such a challenge just getting that done and trying to learn about … And I wanted it to look just like any book that you would see at Borders-
Dr. Mironda Williams:
And it is.
Dr. Audrey Miller:
… or Barnes and Noble.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
Right.
Dr. Mironda Williams:
Exactly.
Dr. Audrey Miller:
Right. And so, a lot of people will self-publish, and it’s just the books look a mess. You see all sorts of typos and stuff like that through the book. I mean, all of that, and I just wanted it to be perfect.
Dr. Mironda Williams:
Exactly.
Dr. Audrey Miller:
And to see it in my eyes.
Dr. Mironda Williams:
And remind the audience how they can get your book. So, where is your book available?
Dr. Audrey Miller:
Well, right now, yeah. So, my book is available on Amazon, so right? I know.
Dr. Mironda Williams:
I know, right?
Dr. Audrey Miller:
Yeah, it’s available on Amazon at this point. I mean, I’ve had a sequel outline for some time, but it’s funny that you have a sequel in mind and then when it happens in real life, because I had a whole thing about there’s a Black person that marries into the Royal family. And well, that happened
Dr. Mironda Williams:
And then it happened.
Dr. Audrey Miller:
Right. And so some of the things, it’s like they’re ahead of me. It’s like, okay, now I got to start thinking what’s life like 20 years from now without it being science fiction? Living in South Carolina, there’s a lot of local color. So, I’m working on a story right now about a young man from Coosawhatchie, South Carolina who makes it big-
Dr. Mironda Williams:
Oh, nice.
Dr. Audrey Miller:
… in the Big Apple. So, I think writing’s been a big part now of my, I wouldn’t say daily living because I could go for long periods without writing anything, but it’s just thinking about it and it’s taking notes, not forgetting. I mean, if I see just a word that I like, I’ll just put it in my phone just so I can remember it. Just because you forget stuff, you have a great idea and then 10 minutes later, what was that?
Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
I know, I know.
Dr. Mironda Williams:
Yeah, writing is such, well, any kind of creative process, I think whether it’s music, or literature, or writing books, plays, even in dance, it can become such a study of yourself, what interests you may have. Like you said, why is this word interesting to me? Why is the situation, the thought that you have for the book that has the Carolina basis? Because you’re so well traveled. That’s another one of your passions is traveling and experiencing the world, and I really think that that opens you up to having such a deep well to draw from as you continue to pursue your writing, and your process, and what kind of stories you can tell and how you can tell it, and then what do you discover about yourself? Because you can’t divorce you from yourself. You know what I’m saying?
So, so much of who you are will come out in certain ways in whatever your creative process is, and how do you deal with that? So like you said, the editor was saying, “Okay, but you start the book and she’s already divorced-
Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
She’s already divorced. Why we-
Dr. Mironda Williams:
…why are we going back?” And you’re like, “Yeah, well, that’s because it’s my story.” And that’s okay, because that’s a part of all of us in terms of our personal development and growth. And when you said, because we talk about that a lot on a lot of our other shows and topics, which is one of the reasons why on this podcast we don’t just talk health, even though now we have four OB-GYNs on the show today, life is so much more than that. But one of the recurring themes that you … It’s about your mindset. It’s like you just said, you can’t can’t do anything until you change your mind, and you got to finish stuff. Because otherwise, it’s just a hope and a dream, nothing’s ever accomplished.
Whether it’s losing weight, whether it’s eating, whatever it is, it starts with your mindset. And then how do you actualize that? And I think that is just, it’s such an important lesson to learn, and it’s hard to continue to live it out day after day, because you get caught in your routine, you get caught in life, life happens. Audrey mentioned she’s back in the Atlanta area, she’s been working her way down the East Coast. She’s been coming on down, and all of that can sidetrack you but you stay focused on your goal. Your goal was to make it back to Atlanta, your goal was to finish your book, your goal has been to do so many things. So, I applaud you that you had the stick to it-ness to stay in it, because writing is very personal, especially when you then open up your baby, this project that you’ve worked on in your case for years. And then for someone to say, “Well-
Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
Meh.
Dr. Mironda Williams:
… eh.” Meh.
Dr. Audrey Miller:
Meh.
Dr. Mironda Williams:
So yeah, we definitely thank you for sharing that process. That’s a lot. We read the book when it came out, because of course we’ve been Facebook friends and all those things over the years. And so, when she was posting, I think when I saw that you had gone to the writing conference in France, I was like, “Oh, Audrey’s … She’s writing.” I’m like, “She’s writing.”
Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
Writing.
Dr. Mironda Williams:
It’s not just something as a hobby. So when the book came out, we got it, we read it. We were just all so proud of your accomplishment. And it’s a wonderful book, so we encourage you all to please check it out on Amazon.com, where you can get all things, including great books. So, please pick up Birth Order by Dr. Audrey Miller. And we know your time is precious, and we definitely want to get you back. We’ll have to get you back in studio sometime, Audrey-
Dr. Audrey Miller:
I’d love that.
Dr. Mironda Williams:
… so we can recount-
Dr. Audrey Miller:
I would absolutely love that.
Dr. Mironda Williams:
… some of our-
Dr. Karen Greene:
Adventures.
Dr. Mironda Williams:
… some of our adventures.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
Adventures, yes.
Dr. Mironda Williams:
Those things that we can tell anyway, something else that are for a shared audience. Is there anything else, Audrey, about your book or about anything else that you want the audience to know in terms of how they can find this book, what your next thoughts are before we wrap up today’s episode and get you back for another time?
Dr. Audrey Miller:
No, I think that’s it in terms of the book, but again, sometimes your mind is the hardest thing to change. It’s the easiest thing, but it’s the most difficult thing. And again, like I said, the really great question that made me really start thinking about it is again, not getting in your own way, trying to a little more empathy. I mean, we need a lot more empathy in this world.
Dr. Mironda Williams:
Yes, we do.
Dr. Audrey Miller:
Especially these days. It forces you to put yourself in somebody else’s shoes, and you may not be able to stand that person, but just find common ground. And that was something that was very important for me as a writer is to, even with a villain, is there humanity somewhere? So, just try to find the humanity. And we do that every day in what we do with our jobs, but it’s just something to always keep in mind.
Dr. Mironda Williams:
Absolutely, absolutely. Anything else, ladies?
Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
I was going to say, I have a friend who’s in the middle of this process. She’s writing a book, and she’s trying to give herself a deadline to get to the end of her book. So, maybe I’ll connect you because she’s saying, “I really need to talk to somebody about what do I do next?”
Dr. Audrey Miller:
Oh, I’d love to.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
So, maybe I’ll connect you two and have you thinking about where you were when you started when you met that person in New York that got you started, maybe you can do that for my friend.
Dr. Mironda Williams:
Exactly.
Dr. Audrey Miller:
No, I’d be more than happy to talk him.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
Okay, great. Okay, good.
Dr. Audrey Miller:
More than happy.
Dr. Mironda Williams:
Yeah, we’re good. So once again, we want to thank our audience. This has been another great episode of Take Good Care podcast, where we were able to introduce our audience to a dear friend and colleague of ours, Dr. Audrey Miller-
Dr. Audrey Miller:
I’m going to take my glasses off.
Dr. Mironda Williams:
… now published author of the wonderful book Birth Order, very intriguing, interesting, very timely with a lot of the events of the world today. So, we wanted you to be introduced to her and her work through this platform. So, please continue to follow us on all of your social media outlets, check us out on our website at takegoodcare.com. If you have any questions, concerns, thoughts, ideas for other episodes, don’t hesitate to send us an email at [email protected], [email protected], send those in. Share us with your friends and family. Until we meet again, this has been another episode of Take Good Care podcast, I’m Dr. Mironda Williams.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
I’m Dr. Deanna Guthrie.
Dr. Karen Greene:
And I am Dr. Karen Greene. Take good care.