Back to fiction. In this third book of your series, this is a different nurse Nora than we're used to seeing isn't it?

Nora really comes into her own in Urgent Care.  She's always been a people-pleaser, a rule-follower (which makes her a good charge nurse) but in this book she learns that it is okay to put her own needs first.

I think a lot of the nurses I've worked with fall into the trap of taking care of others first, but by learning how to take care of themselves they're actually better able to care for everyone else and enjoy th eir jobs.

When you began this series, did you know where you were taking Nora?

Yes, as soon as I realized what happened to her in the past, I knew she'd have to face that trauma.  I actually planned to have Urgent Care as the second book in the series, because Nora's story has always fascinated me, but my editor felt it was too dark to follow Lifelines.  She was right, Amanda's story in Warning Signs, the second book, is a nice break from the intensity of the other books.

How have you changed or grown as a writer over the three books?

Nora's story in Urgent Care is more emotionally honest and complex than any I've tackled before.  It's always been a challenge, juggling four main characters and staying true to their characters and stories, but in Urgent Care, things really come together for all the characters.  Nora faces her greatest fear, Amanda matures as a physician, Gina starts her own hard road to fulfilling her destiny, and Lydia learns what
family is really about.

It was difficult to intertwine such emotional stories without one overwhelming another, but I think I managed it.  And Urgent Care takes some characters in new and unexpected directions, laying the groundwork for their future adventures.

Did you know the outcome of this book when you began writing it?

LOL!  I never know the outcome of a book when I start!  That way it's as fresh and surprising to me as to the reader (I hope!)

I did know that Nora would face the trauma of her past and that she would triumph over her fears, but I also knew there was a price she'd pay--I had no idea how she'd succeed, but just that she eventually would.

How long did it take you to write the manuscript?

Urgent Care was one of those books that pulled me in so deeply that it consumed me and pretty much wrote itself. I wrote the first draft in 90 days but of course there were plenty of revisions after getting that initial story sketched out.

CJ Lyons' first novel, Lifelines (Berkley, March 2008), received praise as a "breathtakingly fast-paced medical thriller" from Publishers Weekly, was reviewed favorably by the Baltimore Sun and Newsday, named a Top Pick by Romantic Times Book Review Magazine, and became a National Bestseller. Lifelines also won a Readers' Choice Award for Best First Novel.

Her second novel, Warning Signs, was published by Berkley in January, 2009. To learn more about CJ and her work, go to www.cjlyons.net.