Inspired to write, publish

Dunedin doctor Libby Whittaker writes in her spare time. She loved writing Eye Spyclops (sample pages above). Photos: supplied

Dunedin doctor Libby Whittaker has written her first children’s book, drawing on her own childhood experiences. She tells Rebecca Fox about her first love.

Libby Whittaker can remember getting her first pair of glasses.

She was 10 years old and had a mix of feelings churning in her stomach — excited about choosing glasses, but worried about looking different or silly and people making fun of her.

"I really wanted a pair of Harry Potter glasses but my brother said no, that wasn’t a great idea, which was good advice I think."

That experience seems to have percolated away in the back of her mind for years, as one night after a long shift at hospital — Whittaker is now a doctor — as she was going to sleep, she asked her partner to text her the words "cyclops needs glasses".

"I didn’t remember asking him to do it all."

A few weeks later, using the words as inspiration, she wrote a draft of the children’s story which has been titled Eye Spyclops.

"It didn’t take very long — it just randomly occurred to me and then I showed it to my flatmate at the time. They were like ‘it’s really good; you should do something with it’."

So she reached out to a publisher with the draft and they took it from there.

"It’s been really fun."

For Whittaker, writing is a nice break from her intense day job. She has been working as a doctor for three years; two of those at Dunedin Hospital, and more recently at the University of Otago’s student health.

"I’m a night owl. I do a lot of writing at night and I’m very lucky I have a non-medical husband who is super supportive and a much better cook than I am and reminds me my glasses are on my face when I’m looking for them and keeps me on track."

Writing was something she always did while growing up on the Whangaparāoa Peninsula and at high school she was naturally drawn to the arts, especially history and English.

"I was a writer first."

She was just 18 when she self-published her first book, the junior fiction novel Sunny Turner and the Deadly Bite, which was a finalist in the 2015 Wishing Shelf Book Awards. She has also published a collection of poetry.

"I’ve not kept to a consistent genre."

However, her dad is a general practitioner and when it came time to decide on a career path, she was not sure, so she did some work experience at his practice and found it quite interesting.

"I was quite torn."

In the end, sciences won out and she moved to Dunedin to study health sciences and medicine 10 years ago.

Whittaker is still deciding what to specialise in, but during her two years at Dunedin Hospital she discovered an interest in obstetrics and gynaecology.

"It was so interesting — very stressful at times, but super rewarding."

But she wanted to learn a bit more about being a general practitioner, which would also give her a bit more free time to do things like writing.

"It’s been a big learning curve. It’s not boring, as anything could walk through the door."

During her studies, writing anything other than an essay was put on the backburner, but it started to work its way back into her life.

"I’m glad I kept a lot of old folders and journals and stuff as there are a lot of ideas in there when I go back. If I ever need inspiration, they can be a good source. I’ve got a lot of unpublished things."

Since then, writing has become her way to unwind.

"It’s nice, to have something super different to medicine to do at the end of the day."

Some of her poetry is drawn from her medical experiences and is a way to process some of the more difficult aspects of the job.

"I also like writing really silly stuff that is nothing to do with what I do. It’s a nice counterpoint. Sometimes it’s a distraction, escapism, other times it’s a reflection on what might have happened at work."

So using her experience needing glasses herself, Whittaker wrote Eye Spyclops, a story about Alfred, who gets his eyes checked as he is having trouble reading the board in class and discovers he is short-sighted. He needs to find some glasses that he likes but none in the shop fit him, so he goes on a fantastical journey to find them.

"I can remember that first visit to the optometrist. There are also broader themes that all of us can likely relate to on some level, such as insecurity, self-acceptance, belonging and being enough just the way you are. It’s probably something a lot of kids can relate to."

Together with illustrator Lily Uivel, Alfred’s story was brought to life. Whittaker admits to only having vague visual ideas of what Alfred and his world would look like, so getting to work with an illustrator was really "cool".

"Lily did a fantastic job. She used those thoughts and came up with some great drawings. The funny thing was, I didn’t initially think of Alfred’s mum being a cyclops, but when Lily drew her she was a cyclops — it made perfect sense."

It was Uivel who also suggested incorporating the fun background elements into the story, and then the publisher suggested the I-spy elements at the back of the book to really engage children that were in the pre-reading stage.

"It’s been a very fun journey."

She is hoping to continue writing, possibly more children’s books. It was the "best feeling" to get one of the first copies of Eye Spyclops.

"I always forget how exciting it is. It’s definitely worth it — even more so as it has been illustrated by someone else. I’m obsessed with the colour palette she used and the details."

Whittaker’s family have now joined her in Dunedin and she has no plans to head north.

"I was intending to study here and go back up north, but I really love Dunedin. It’s beautiful here."

She is also looking forward to her nephews reading the book for the first time.