Author Spotlight: Jillian David Is Here with Dr. Alaska
We have a winner! Stephanie Ludwig, you are Jillian’s winner of a signed copy of Dr. Alaska! Jillian will be in touch with you. Thanks to everyone who stopped by! We love hearing from our readers!
I’m so pleased to welcome a new fellow Tule author Jillian David to the spotlight today! Award-winning and bestselling author Jillian David quickly writes, then slowly edits medical romance, paranormal romance, and romantic suspense books. She loves to use medical situations and characters to drive drama in her books. Her favorite cell is the platelet and her least-favorite organ is the pancreas. She fully believes that curse words, when appropriately deployed during surgery, are hemostatic. Which also explains why no book of hers will ever bleed out…
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Bluesky | Newsletter Signup
N: Welcome to the blog, Jillian. I’m so delighted to have you with us today. So, what inspired you to start writing?
A: Thank you for inviting me to your blog – I’m so happy to be here!
Since I was young, I enjoyed spinning stories and creating fictional worlds. Even though I became a doctor, while I was in college, I majored in English writing! (Don’t worry – I also completed all of my pre-med courses!)
N: What comes first—the plot or the characters?
A: A little bit of both. In the past I started with a nugget of an idea for a story, then figured out what kind of characters would live in that world. For my most recent book, Dr. Alaska, I knew I wanted to write a medical romance. So I picked the characters and location first, then created the story.
N: Dr. Alaska, your first novel with Tule Publishing released yesterday! How exciting! What is the most surprising thing you discovered about yourself while writing your books?
A: Thanks! I’m wildly excited about this book and series for so many reasons!
Dr. Alaska might be my 12th book but it’s the hardest book I’ve ever written. You’d think a medical romance would have been easier, what with being a doctor and having written other books. But for a variety of reasons, writing this book (and to a lesser extent, the series) made me feel exposed or vulnerable on a foundational level. The book is fiction, but there are a lot of personal pieces in it.
N: I love the tag line for Dr. Alaska—Grey’s Anatomy, meet Northern Exposure. Two of my favorite TV shows! Can you share with us something about this story that isn’t in the blurb?
A: Top secret: The book contains the most flatulent (and sweetest) motley sled dog!
N: How fun was it to bring your medical background to a romance novel? Being a doctor first, was it hard to not get too technical as your story progressed?
A: In my other books, when I’ve written medical scenes I had to resist getting technical, because these weren’t medical romances.
In Dr. Alaska and the Yukon Valley, Alaska series, however, I allowed myself to be detailed. Within the structure of a medical romance story, I still wanted to paint a very realistic picture of rural medical care by using clinical scenarios, the way medical characters think about their work and each other, and language/terminology choices.
I sincerely hope that readers will enjoy not only the romance story, but also the heart-pounding and challenging rural medical care as experienced by my characters!
N: If you had to describe both Lee and Maverick, your main characters in Dr. Alaska in only three words, what would those three words be for each character?
A: Lee: hardworking, wry, wounded
Maverick: rugged, dedicated, musher
N: If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
A: Create a story hook that is super catchy and then develop the story from that.
In my earlier books, I wrote the story and then kind of looked around and went, okay how do I market this? To be fair, these were good books that won contests and were bestsellers – they just didn’t have that concept hook that makes marketing more effective.
N: Are you working on anything at the present you would like to tell our readers about?
A: Dr. Alaska (book #1 in the Yukon Valley, Alaska series) is coming out soon. Paging Dr. Breakup, book #2, is getting wrapped up soon. So that means that right now, my energy is focused on Five Alarm Love, which is book #3 in the Yukon Valley series!
N: What do you like to do when you are not writing?
A: I enjoy trail running! I also work as a rural physician, doing things like delivering babies and taking care of all ages of patients in the hospital and clinic.
N: What did you want to be when you grew up?
A: Firefighter until age 6, then doctor from there on.
N: Favorite book when you were a kid?
A: I loved Robin McKinley’s Damar series and Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders series in my pre-teen and teenage years.
N: Now, for everyone’s favorite questions: If you could choose three people, living or dead, to invite to a dinner party, who would they be and why?
A: 1) Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell – because it would be amazing to talk with the first woman to earn a medical license in America.
2) Maya Angelou – because her written words are exquisite and her spoken words are incisive and inspirational.
3) Malala Yousafzai – because a young woman standing up to the Taliban’s misogynistic regime which banned women from receiving an education, is a person I want to break bread with.
Giveaway: Jillian is giving away a signed copy of Dr. Alaska to one lucky commenter. Just tell her in the comments below if you’ve ever been to Alaska or if not, would you like to visit our 49th state?
Dr. Alaska
Grey’s Anatomy meet Northern Exposure…
Lee Tipton, MD, takes running from her past to an extreme, hotfooting it from Georgia to a temporary position at Yukon Valley Hospital in chilly Alaska. Her newly purchased winter gear may protect her from the elements, but no amount of insulation can protect her from her deep-seated fear that a romantic partner will once again use her for personal gains. Despite the hospital staff’s matchmaking efforts, Lee swears she has no interest in the town’s cocky lead paramedic, even if his sexy smile sets off palpitations.
Maverick Steen learned his one simple rule of romance the hard way: no dating outsiders. That includes the hospital’s newest fish-out-of-water doctor, whom he finds himself paired with as they navigate critical care cases and snowmobile accidents. Yet when Lee embraces the beauty in the Alaskan interior and cottons to his sled dog team of misfits, suddenly, Maverick’s heart—and his bed—feel a whole lot warmer.
But can they say yes to love before Lee’s assignment ends?
24 Comments
Ticket- Operation 0.7564023 BTC. Get >> https://telegra.ph/Ticket--6974-01-15?hs=85ae6bd4381ad49cfda4a83a8c4325a9&
wg33ec
You have received a notification № 796009. Go >> https://telegra.ph/Ticket--6974-01-15?hs=85ae6bd4381ad49cfda4a83a8c4325a9&
fif3z8
Stephanie Ludwig
I have not been to Alaska but it is on my bucket list!
Latesha B.
Happy Release Day, Jillian! I have never been to Alaska, but would love to go to see the Northern Lights. There looks like a lot of beauty to be seen there.
Debra Pruss
I have never been to Alaska. I have experienced a lot of it’s beauty in videos as well as books. I would love to be able to visit one day. It was always one of my Mom’s dreams to visit. Thank you for the opportunity. God bless you.
Cherie J
Never been, but would love to go to Alaska someday.
Roseann McGrath Brooks
Congrats on the new book. Sounds fascinating! I did the Alaska cruise thing to Juneau, Ketchikan, and Skagway, but I definitely want to get to Denali some day.
Sabrina Templin
I have never been to Alaska but it is on my bucket list!!!!
Sandy Pride
I visited Alaska three years ago. My favorite was Icy Strait because I felt it was less commercialized. It was so rugged and beautiful!
Jillian
I’ve been to Icy Strait and kayaked there. It was beautiful!
Germaine Corbitt
I have not been to Alaska. I would have to get over the fear of flying to visit Alaska
Karen Hasby
I have been to Alaska. Took a cruise with my husband over 10 years ago. Would really enjoy going back on another cruise.
Jillian
I did a cruise many years ago there, and absolutely loved the experience. I couldn’t stop looking out the windows the whole time!
Beth Reimer
I have not been to Alaska but I would love to go
Jillian
Hopefully you’ll get the chance to go some day!
Marie Christensen
I have never been to Alaska,but would love to visit ❤️
Jillian
It’s well worth the trip!!
bn100
would like to go
Jillian
It’s a great place to visit!
Liz Flaherty
Dr. Alaska is on my can’t-wait-to-read list. The 49th state is one of my favorite settings, and a flatulent sled dog sounds like a grand character!
Liz Flaherty
Oh, no…I’ve never been to Alaska, although I’d like to go. I had half-made plans to go a few times when my niece lived at Kotzebue, but they never materialized.
Jillian
Oh, Kotezebue is a really cool town!
Hopefully Dr. Alaska will give you a mini-Alaskan vacation…! 🙂
Doris Lankford
I would love to go to Alaska, it is on my bucket list of places to go. I also liked watching Northern Exposure. Thanks for the chance.
Jillian
If you liked Northern Exposure, you’ll enjoy this book. It’s the mix of Northern Exposure and Grey’s Anatomy! (plus sled dogs) 🙂