Carrie Fancett Pagels Interviews Candace Calvert

CandaceCalvert  is the author of Trauma Plan and of the Mercy Hospital series. I met Candace through Facebook and fellow ACFW members.

Candace, welcome to Overcoming Through Time.  Would you share either the most difficult thing in your life you have had to overcome, with God’s help, or the most tragic situation or circumstance one of your character’s has had to get past?

God blessed me with a quirky wit and buoyant optimism, but I didn’t come to really know Him until after a “triple whammy” turned my life into a bad country song. In a span of eighteen months, I experienced a painful and unexpected divorce, the Northern California floods of 1997, and (just when I was coping like a champ, no problem) an equestrian accident that left me with fractured ribs, a bleeding lung, broken back, neck fractures and a spinal cord injury. With no warning, my comfortable life was gone and I became a single mother, a disaster evacuee, and a patient in my own trauma room. I sometimes say that God took drastic measures to get my attention!

In the months of rehabilitation, I healed in body and spirit. And came to fully understand the difference between being a “strong” woman and a woman of strength. The difference is faith, and that lesson has been my biggest blessing. My story, “By Accident,” appears in Chicken Soup for the Nurse’s Soul, and launched my writing career. Readers of my Mercy Hospital and Grace Medical series will find that my fictional characters struggle with similar issues. In fact Riley Hale, heroine of Trauma Plan, suffers from lingering disability after a spinal cord injury.

What is your favorite bible verse and why?

Though it’s hard to choose a favorite, I’d have to say Jeremiah 29:11, the verse that became the Scriptural base for my first novel, Critical Care. I love that it so beautifully shows God’s loving plan for our lives and that it speaks of hope. Hope is a recurrent theme in my work, and I’m always pleased when folks call me the author of “medical hope opera.”

Disability friendliness:

Is this latest release available in audio format or do you have any other works available on audio?  Do your e-books have audio capability? Do you have any in large print.

The first book in my Mercy Hospital series, Critical Care, is available in large print and has recently been recorded by the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. It is my hope that my other books will follow suit. All of my e-books have audio capability.

What has been the most important thing you hope your readers will get from your books and why?

As I mentioned before, my medical fiction themes all center around hope—and healing. I offer exciting glimpses into the world of emergency medicine and, more importantly, into the hearts behind the stethoscopes, people with wounds—physical, emotional, and spiritual.  I love when readers call these characters “relatable,” telling me that these struggles, doubts, fear—and joys—mirror their own.  We are all flawed human beings; we make mistakes and need second chances. My characters may be medical heroes, but it is through the grace of God that they find true hope and healing. I’m heartened when readers feel encouraged by that.

As you researched your books, did you learn anything that particularly touched your heart?

At the core of my stories—in both the Mercy Hospital & Grace Medical series—is the issue of post traumatic stress. I address the serious emotional toll taken on rescue, fire, medical, and law enforcement teams who put their hearts and lives on the line in service to others. In my book, Disaster Status, I needed to write from the point of view of a hospital worker suffering PTSD as a result of his service in the Gulf War. A member of my church, a retired Army Lt. Colonel, offered to sit down with me and share his memories of fighting in that desert conflict. Some of it was difficult for him to voice—and for me to hear. His input added much to the character of Sarge Gunther, and I was deeply touched that he wanted to help with my story so that it might offer “hope to other people.”

In this latest work, do you have any topics useful for bibliotherapy, or therapeutic influence through reading about a disorder or situation?

Yes, absolutely. As mentioned earlier, all of my books deal with the subject of critical stress (“burn out,” post traumatic stress disorder). Trauma Plan offers coping strategies for people (medical teams as well as civilians) who have been emotionally affected by tragedy. It also gives encouragement to victims of violent crime, and for those who must cope with debilitating injury in its aftermath. Fear (vs. faith) is an overarching theme, and the subject of agoraphobia is explored via a secondary character.

Thank you Candace for agreeing to answer these questions.  Have a blessed day and keep on writing!!

Website Link: http://candacecalvert.com/

You can purchase Trauma Plan through Amazon 

through Barnes and Noble, as well as CBD and other book stores.

Candace Calvert is a former ER nurse who believes love, laughter and faith are the best medicines. Her Mercy Hospital and Grace Medical series offer readers a chance to “scrub in” on the exciting world of emergency medicine—along with a soul-soothing prescription for hope. Wife, mother, and very proud grandmother, she makes her home in northern California. 

GIVEAWAY:  Leave a comment and your email to be entered in this week’s contest.  Drawing will be late Saturday.  Candace is offering two paperback giveaways of each of the books reviewed this week and we are offering an e-book of either one, for a total of five possible chances to win this week!