I’ve been a singer and songwriter since 1997. Before that and between times, a graphic artist and book illustrator. As I transitioned out of career performing in 2006, I began writing personal essays, short fiction, and poetry.
I am interested in music and songwriting, my experiences in nature (including human nature), small towns, horses, animals, and the weather. In fiction, I explore my theories about why people and things are the way they are. And other stuff. I live in the country near Ithaca, New York.
As a staff writer at Cornell University, my articles appeared in The Cornell Chronicle, Ezra Magazine, AAP News, and on aap.cornell.edu. An essay is included in Ithaca Area Bookstores, by Sharon K. Yntema (2023, Skylark Ink).
Currently, I am finishing a novel, The Low Lands (literary fiction). An from excerpt was published by The Write Launch.
The Low Lands sweeps the reader into the visible and invisible world of a family in crisis. A troubled high school senior drowns in a flood when she is trapped in a truck driven by her father’s AA sponsee. The gates between life and death and past and present open as Cynthia and Robert uncover what happened to their daughter, to themselves, and the way from loss to forgiveness. Richly set in New York’s Finger Lakes region, The Low Lands is a compassionate story of imperfect people struggling with loss, accountability, addiction, and transformation.
“Friday night in mid-August. Still raining. Long-armed hills rested around the Finger Lakes, cataracts and creeks roaring, forests slick and swamped, all creatures seeking higher ground. The summer of 2008 would be remembered for a three-week stretch of record-breaking rain. Phil was drinking and playing pool at The Outpost. A few miles away, Robert and Cynthia slept at home in the cease-fire dark of their battlefield bed, and their daughter, Maylin, was at large in the wild.“
Visit my music website. Find downloads and videos on the web, iTunes, Amazon, YouTube, etc. Listen on Spotify, Pandora, and soundcloud.
I have a photography and design blog, too: sway2this.com
Unless otherwise noted, all material posted, is the intellectual property of Patti Witten, © all rights reserved.
Sway To This : Patti Witten 