We recently connected with Rosey Lee and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Rosey, thanks for joining us today. Too often the media represents innovation as something magical that only high-flying tech billionaires and upstarts engage in – but the truth is almost every business owner has to regularly innovate in small and big ways in order for their businesses to survive and thrive. Can you share a story that highlights something innovative you’ve done over the course of your career?

After many years of saying, “I’m going to write a novel one day”, I finally did it. My debut novel, The Gardins of Edin, was published in January 2024. I write using a pen name, so I like to say that my alter ego is a physician. Some people in my network see my writing as a big career pivot, but I don’t. I would call it an innovation in my approach to empower people with health information and help them feel more comfortable advocating for themselves and their loved ones. People don’t just learn about those things in a clinical setting or a community health program. If we want to make our country healthier, it’s important to meet people wherever they are. So, my commitment to prevention and public health shines through The Gardins of Edin, as it features health themes—physical health, mental health, and the connection between them—alongside other topics that are important to me, including fashion and good food.

Rosey, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My stories are messy family and friendship dramas, but a happy ending is guaranteed. Since things don’t always work out that way in life, I write my books with the hope that readers will relate to the predicaments that my characters face and feel optimistic when they navigate similar situations in their own day-to-day lives. And if readers happen not to have similar drama in their lives, that’s okay too. I aim for everyone who reads my books to be entertained by my characters’ messy lives and to learn something along the way.

I loved writing as a child. But other than homework assignments, I wrote very little in junior high and high school. In college, we were required to complete a series of writing assignments in my freshman English class and turn in a writing portfolio. My professor provided thoughtful and encouraging editorial feedback to each student over the semester, and we revised our portfolios accordingly. I now realize that approach helped to prepare me for working with my editor on my novels. My college professor’s feedback also made me wonder if I should take writing more seriously. But I understood that I need to use my electives to satisfy the requirements of my school’s rigorous pre-med curriculum. So, I promised myself that I would find time to write after I finished medical school and residency. However, I underestimated how busy my work life would be, and it took years to reach the point that I was able to commit to writing.

It’s not always easy to carve out writing time, but I’m more likely to follow through with it when I put it on my calendar. Scheduling was crucial to finish my second book by my editor’s deadline. The next book in my Gardins of Edin series comes out in May 2025. The main character is a busy physician, so you can probably imagine the book was a lot of fun to write. It’s called A Gardin Wedding, and it builds on the messy, Southern family drama that begin in The Gardins of Edin.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I strive to write entertaining stories that offer a respite from the everyday struggles that we all go through but that also leave readers feeling encouraged, hopeful, and empowered to use something they learned in the story to have a better life.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I love when readers tell me that my stories touched them, that they related to what my characters experienced, or that they learned something from my book that helped them later. It’s exhilarating!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.roseyleebooks.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/roseyleebooks/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/roseyleebooks/
• Twitter: https://x.com/roseyleebooks

Image Credits

The credit for the pie and book photo: @pieladybooks/Stephanie Hockersmith
The other photos do not require that credit be given.