You don’t have to give up the day job to be a writer, as vet Susan E Connolly tells Emma Blain.

You wrote your first novel, Damsel, while studying veterinary medicine in UCD; how did you find the time? I wrote the book when I took a year out from college and was temping in an office; it was very corporate and I had to look like a piece of furniture. I wasn't allowed to read or use the internet, so I thought I could use the opportunity to write, and I would look industrious! Boredom was a great motivator!

Your first published work was in the UCD newspaper The University Observer; is this a route you would encourage budding writers to go down?

I really would recommend it. People have this idea that you're going to make a lot of money from writing, and then they end up disappointed. But when you're writing for your college paper, and doing it for free, it's the enjoyment of doing it. I remember getting a letter from someone saying I was good, and I was on top of the world for a week.

You excelled at maths and science, yet have become a writer; what do you think of the assumption that you can only be good at either science or arts?

It's funny how children pigeon-hole themselves. Kids like the book where there is the 'smart' one, the 'pretty' one, the 'funny' one. When I was young, as I was good at maths and science, I thought that was my 'job'. But I loved reading and I loved writing. But, after 22 years on this earth, I realised that you can be good at more than one thing! That comes through in my book Damsel where the main character, Annie, is perfectly happy to look pretty and be a hero too.

What made you want to become a vet?

I live in Leopardstown, and, when my parents bought out here, it was like countryside. When I was four, I said I wanted to be a vet and I never changed my mind. I remember seeing a picture of a chinchilla when I was about eight and wanted one. My dad bought a book about them and then gave me a test to see if I could look after one, and I could.

Now that you've qualified as a vet and had your first book published, are you going to have to choose between veterinary work and writing?

My ideal situation would be to work as a vet and write in my spare time. I think you'll see a lot of people saying they are "working on a novel" which is my Mum's code word for being unemployed. It will be interesting to see if the recession creates creativity.

I'm working on two books at the moment; neither are directly related to the first book -- we'll see how the sales go with that one. I write each depending on my mood. One is a kids book for early teens; it's about a kid who gets a job as a veterinary assistant for magical animals. The second is for teenagers of the Twilight age group. It's an urban fantasy scenario and is quite dark.

Susan's debut novel Damsel is out now. Susan is supporting the Children's Book Festival. See www.childrensbooksireland.ie for an event guide

- Emma Blain