Rheum After 5: Dr. Glenn Parris, Novelist

Dr. Parris

Sometimes, late at night, after his wife Carla has gone to bed, Glenn Parris, MD, rheumatologist, founder and CEO of Parris and Associates Rheumatology, Lawrenceville, Ga., sneaks into his home office to continue working on one of his novels.

“My wife thinks I’m asleep, but I use the time to compose my thoughts and write a couple of chapters,” Dr. Parris says. “I try to write for a couple of hours every weekend, and also in airports and hotel rooms when I’m traveling.”

A Story Begins

Dr. Parris’ love for the written word began when he was a young boy growing up in New York City. An avid reader who spent hours devouring science fiction novels, he counts Isaac Azimov, Frank Herbert, Octavia Butler and Larry Niven among his favorite authors. His passion for the written word grew over the years to include a love of writing.

While completing his fellowship at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Dr. Parris began writing stories based on the genres he enjoyed reading the most, including science fiction, fantasy and suspense/thriller mysteries.

“At the time, I was writing for pleasure,” Dr. Parris says. “The more I wrote, the more I learned that every draft didn’t have to be perfect. It was more important to just keep writing.”

Write What You Know

After moving cross-country from Buffalo, N.Y., to complete his medical residency and rheumatology fellowship at Emory University, Dr. Parris fell in love with the Atlanta suburbs. He put his writing on hold as he proceeded to get married, have two children and build a burgeoning rheumatology practice.

It wasn’t until 2010 that Dr. Parris began to contemplate publishing a novel when his wife gave him a gift, enrolling him in a writing workshop for doctors led by novelists and retired physicians Tess Gerritsen and the late Michael Palmer.

Aspiring writers often hear the phrase, “Write what you know,” and as he penned his first book, The Renaissance of Aspirin, a Jack Wheaton Mystery Doc novel, published in 2013, Dr. Parris found his scientific outlook influenced his writing.

‘The more I wrote, the more I learned that every draft didn’t have to be perfect. It was more important to just keep writing.’

—Dr. Parris

“The story is a medical mystery based in Atlanta that centers around two young doctors who unwittingly possess a cure for fibromyalgia,” Dr. Parris says. “The idea for this book was conceived in part because of my frustration that we haven’t made the same strides with understanding and treating fibromyalgia as we have with rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory diseases.”