North Shore author Eileen Merriman burst onto the literary scene in 2017, 2018 and 2019 with three hugely successful young adult novels, and also had her first adult novel published in 2019. But you may have heard her name in an entirely different context, as consultant haematologist at North Shore Hospital. In both contexts, she is highly accomplished, dedicated and driven. Just how does she reconcile these two divergent and demanding careers – and how does she find time? Writer Christine Young investigated.
It seems writing is part of Eileen’s being; from the age of eight she was “always writing”, filling exercise books with stories. While still at high school, she wrote a fantasy novella, which she sent to publisher Penguin. It was rejected – and that might have been that. She didn’t write again for 18 years. “I got distracted”,” she says. “I thought it was something I used to do.”
Distractions came first in the form of med school at Otago. She was initially rejected, so did a Laboratory Science degree, before re-applying and completing her medical training in Dunedin and Christchurch. A stint as a junior doctor in Nelson followed, before a return to Christchurch (by now a registrar), and then a fellowship in Melbourne. She is now Dr Eileen Merriman MB ChB, FRACP, FRCPA (Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia). By the time she arrived in Melbourne, she’d also fallen in love, married and had a two-year old son. Then, as she honed her skills in haematology and began her PhD qualification, “a good job came up at North Shore Hospital”. She could return to New Zealand, live near the beach – and complete her PHD. In June 2020, she became Clinical Director and now leads the haematology team.
Taking up the senior role at North Shore Hospital, moving from working under others to leading a team at a major hospital, Eileen says she not only had to build her professional credibility, but also overcome her own “imposter syndrome”. She’s since realised that everyone, at whatever level, needs to ask for advice.
She balances her busy work life by taking full advantage of the North Shore lifestyle – swimming in summer, and running “once or twice” a week. It used to be more often but the return to New Zealand was an opportunity for Eileen and her husband to complete their family, and even with her disciplined approach to “keeping work at work” and her husband undertaking the bulk of the domestic duties, there’s only so much time….
Eileen developed an interest in leukaemias as she was studying for her physician’s exams, but to specialise in haematology meant yet another set of exams. Not dissuaded by this, she sat five more exams, and says that haematology which seems the perfect match for her: it involves direct contact with patients, as well as diagnostic procedures such as bone marrow biopsies; at North Shore, where she runs thrombosis clinics, most of her work is clinical (directly concerned with patients and their treatments). She is also on a number of international committees and advisory bodies. She thrives on the variety the role offers.
Once at North Shore, she completed her PhD studies into treatments for blood clotting. Working full-time and studying part-time, her PhD “took seven or eight years; it was really hard,” she confesses. But the outcome was ground-breaking – and of direct benefit to many patients. Her research involved a clinical trial at 12 hospitals, monitoring a two-week treatment (much longer than was then the standard) for low-risk patients with deep vein thrombosis. “It was one of the largest studies in the world,” she says – and has changed treatment for such patients internationally. She has presented at “a couple” of international conferences, and is now working towards getting the results published in a reputable medical journal.
With all those “distractions”, what on earth possessed her to resume writing?
“When I stopped studying, I needed a hobby,” she says. She resumed writing and “realised how good it made me feel… it de-stressed me”. Yes, it’s different from medicine, but there is art, she says, not just science, in medicine. Dealing with patients, there are always “shades of grey”, and it’s perhaps significant that her books to date frequently include elements of a medical theme, and are character- rather than plot-driven.
When she started writing again, she enrolled in creative writing courses. She loved it, meeting other writers alongside learning about “the nuts and bolts of writing, the shape of books…”. The novel she started on those courses was not completed, but the initial idea has now metamorphosed into the second book in an about-to be-published trilogy.
It wasn’t all overnight success. A couple of novels were rejected, despite having had manuscript assessments done though the New Zealand Society of Authors. But then she won third place for three years running (2014-2016) in the Sunday Star Times Short Story Competition, which she entered in a bid to build her literary CV. She followed those successes up with a second place in 2018. After working on ‘Pieces of You’ (her first young adult novel) during the course of an NSZA mentorship with writer Paula Morris, she engaged an agent, who sent the manuscript to Penguin Random House, who published it a year after accepting it for publication.
Eileen now writes most evenings, for anywhere between half an hour to two hours. “But I have to be in the mood,” she notes. Mostly, she focuses on her novels, but she still loves writing short stories, and appreciates the different disciplines they entail. She’s currently completing a young adult trilogy, the first book of which (‘Violet Black’) is due for release in March; she has just completed proof reading the second (‘Double Helix’) which is due out in September. When she started, as with most of her books, she had a character, but “had no idea” where the plot would go, though she did have a plot arc in her head.
As in her medical work, so too in her writing. Eileen is disciplined in her approach: she keeps tabs on the word count, knowing that most young adult novels can’t go much over 70,000 words. “Once I get to 50,000 words, I know I have to be getting to a climax.” Equally, if she can’t get past 20,000 words, she knows the book won’t work. She nearly abandoned ‘Violet Black’ at this point, just as she had done with an adult novel at around the same time, but a friend who also acts as a writing mentor – she too is a doctor and a writer, and they critique each other’s work chapter by chapter – encouraged her to return to the young adult book and complete it.
Her success to date indicates that whatever her approach, it’s working. Her first three young adult novels (‘Pieces of You’, ‘Catch Me When You Fall’, and ‘Invisibly Breathing’, released in 2018 and 2019) were finalists in the New Zealand Children’s and Young Adult Book Awards and won Storylines Notable Book Awards. Her fourth young adult novel, ‘A Trio of Sophies’ was released not only in Australia and New Zealand but also Germany on 2020. Her first adult novel, ‘Moonlight Sonata’ was released in 2019 and was long-listed for the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction at the 2020 New Zealand Book Awards. Her second adult novel, ‘The Silence of Snow’ was released in September 2020, and the audio rights for this and the imminent trilogy have been snapped up.
Eileen completes each book in around five-six months. “If I put it aside, I feel I might lose the thread, and I’m living with the characters in my head.”
What would Eileen’s advice be to anyone aiming to succeed in a writing or medical career (let alone both)? “Perseverance, she answers promptly. “I didn’t get into med school the first time but I just kept going. If your first novel is not published keep going – it doesn’t mean you are not good.”
Secondly, when it comes to writing, “Write what you love; your passion will show. Read a lot. And writing courses are good…. Entering competitions helped me hone my writing. And every time I got a manuscript assessment I took what was said and learnt from it. And still, every time a get edited, I learn something.”
And don’t think you don’t have time. “A lot of people say, ‘I don’t have time to write’, but if you love something, you’ll find the time.”
