Originally published Sunday, October 19, 2008 at 12:00 AM
Comments (0)
E-mail article
Print view
Portraits
Carol Wiley Cassella is just your average author-doctor-wife-mother-of-four
Carol Wiley Cassella, whose first novel, "Oxygen," won rave reviews, is a real-life Wonder Woman, juggling duties as a physician, a writer, wife and mother of two sets of twins.
This is what the book jacket says: Carol Wiley Cassella majored in English literature at Duke University and graduated from medical school in 1986. She practices anesthesiology in Seattle and is a freelance medical writer specializing in public-health advocacy for the developing world (www.carolcassella.com).She is the mother of two sets of twins and is working on her next novel.
Whew.
The book jacket is for Cassella's first novel, "Oxygen," picked up, first-shot-out-of-the-barrel, by Simon & Schuster, with a comparison to mega-best-selling author Jodi Picoult.
Geez.
The twins, by the way, are 12 and 13. The medical writing was for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The anesthesiology work is at Virginia Mason Medical Center. Cassella also belongs to a writer's group. And commutes from Bainbridge Island. And she's on the board of the Bainbridge-Ometepe Sister Island Association.
I need a nap.
Q: How did you catch the Bainbridge writing virus?
A: When (author) David Gutterson opened up Field's End, the writer's community, I immediately signed up for classes.
Q: How did you have time for that?
A: I did the writing when the kids were in school, on the days I was not in the hospital. I have a really supportive husband who never laughed at me. I was working full time until Will and Sara were born. Then I went to 60 percent. With the book I've dropped to 40 percent. Q: How do you have time for another book?
A: I learned some things from the first novel. Now I know when a sentence needs to go: When my first instinct is to kick it out, I do.
Q: What's today looking like?
![]()
A: I'm still in my bathrobe, but I do have my coffee and I've answered some e-mail. I'm going to sit at the computer and revise a couple of chapters. Then I'm going to drive to Seattle and go to Bothell and do a reading and sign some books, and then I have to be at the hospital at 6 in the morning. In between, of course, I'm sure I'll write some more chapters. And I'm doing a blog on a guest Web site.
Q: Is this how they all go?
A: They vary between hospital days and nonhospital days. On hospital days I get up at 4, walk on the ferry and walk up the hill to Virginia Mason. On average, those are 10- to 11-hour days. I come home, feed the family and collapse. When I'm not at the hospital it's kids, mail, cleaning the kitchen, laundry, a run and car pools to ballet, tennis, soccer followed by homework and piano. We love those healthy Trader Joe's frozen dinners on nights I work. Q: Do you have time for spare time?
A: You have to make spare time important and put it on your list.
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
E-mail article
Print view Share:
Digg
Newsvine
Washington businesses break ties to industrial-food chain
This holiday gift list lets your conscience be your guide
Antique wood stove can light your decorative fire
Northwest Living: On Whidbey, a unified home from multiple recycled parts
Plant Life: Good soil is the secret to successful gardening

Real Salt Lake wins MLS Cup
Real Salt Lake defeated the Los Angeles Galaxy with penalty kicks after 120 minutes of play at Qwest Field in Seattle.
nwautos
Local riders say they've seen a surge in scooter interest in recent years, mostly from people wanting another commuting option. Seattle now ranks as o...
Post a comment
nwjobs
Post a comment
Michelle Goodman blogs about work/life balance.
Do you suffer from "sitting disease"?
Post a comment
- 'The Road' takes Viggo Mortensen to Mount St. Helens and Astoria, Ore.
- Tugboat sinks at Seattle waterfront pier
- Illegal workers quietly let go
- Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
- Vikings easily beat the Seahawks
- Craigslist adoption ad: A plea by young mother-to-be? A scam?
- Chase shrugs off loss of CD investors
- Woman stabbed by stranger in North Seattle
- Snow piles up on Cascade slopes
- Denny Triangle gains skyline, but tenants slow to come
- Illegal workers quietly let go
366 - Climate change speeds up since 1997 Kyoto accord
209 - Vikings easily beat the Seahawks
171 - Metro won't cut bus service after all
149 - Historic health care bill clears Senate hurdle
95 - New Husky recruit: Enes Kanter
94 - Tattoos at Mill Creek Church pierce skin, soul
83 - Middleton says Huskies "plan on scoring at least 50 points'' Saturday
78 - Jerry Brewer: Seahawks can't lean on the Hutch Crutch now
73 - UW, WSU once again meet to see who's worse
66
- Sprouts, raw fish on attorney's 'do not eat' list
- Tattoos at Mill Creek church pierce skin, soul
- Illegal workers quietly let go
- Food-safety lawyer's wish: Put me out of business
- Architects, chefs find 'kid' within to build Gingerbread Village
- Rediscovering Moab, 'the most beautiful place on Earth'
- It's possible to recover a life lost to hoarding
- Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
- 'The Road' takes Viggo Mortensen to Mount St. Helens and Astoria, Ore.
- Taste | The Great Pie Bake-off pits friends and fruit








