AUTHOR PROFILE
Patricia Pease lives in Florida, USA. She is a native of North Carolina but chose Florida to be near her two adult sons. Three fur babies share her home now. She has been published in Barren, Hippocampus, BULL, Spillwords, and many other online magazines. Retirement has afforded her the time to commit to a writing practice, which she does while shooing two cats off her keyboard. She started writing late in life (sixty-eight!) but is extremely grateful for the opportunities (classes, workshops, etc.) the writing community provides, and she is a graduate of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. The Authors Only Collective gives her feedback on all her work. It's a wonderful, supportive community of writers.
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Patricia's work appeared in Pond 91
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Why do you write?
For years, I've kept a journal for self-reflection—more as a therapeutic guide. But I only started writing with the intent of being critiqued and hopefully published after I turned sixty-eight. I know it's really late in life, but perhaps I needed time to collect hundreds of experiences to write about Lol. My writing puts things into perspective for me and gives me hours of delight as I struggle, challenging my brain to imagine and create worlds.
What other creative activities are you involved in?
Painting provides a different stimulus. It's like a mantra. Steady and calming. I love working with oils. They are so forgiving and allow changes, turning mistakes into masterpieces. Dance provides a physical outlet for expression. Even if it's around my living room, I try to dance several times a week. It's impossible for me to feel depressed while dancing. Years ago, I taught jazz dance and kickboxing.
Who is your favorite author and why?
Thomas H. Cook writes exceptional psychological thrillers among other genres. I love his prose and storytelling abilities. I feel like I'm not only reading a good story, but I am being enveloped in poetic imagery and beautiful metaphors. I love his sumptuous writing. Sometimes after I've finished one of his books, I don't know whether I read it or saw it as a movie. It is that vivid.
Tell us about the mechanics of how you write.
Since I've never studied writing formally, I feel like I write by the seat of my pants. Usually, good ideas happen while I'm vacuuming or doing some mundane task where my mind can wander. Then I type in a sketch of the main characters, put them in impossible situations, create a conflict, a place where it's happening, and go from there, watching them work their way out of the problem. Often, I'm just as surprised by the outcome as my characters.
Finally, what do you think about Carp, the fish, not our website?
I used to live on a lake where carp congregated by the boat dock. They always amazed me with their innate wisdom and talent for avoiding fish hooks. Looking at their serious faces, I imagined them laughing at us as we frantically threaded our hooks with worms and creepy crawlers. To this day, I don't know what carp tastes like since I could never catch one, and even if I did, I'd throw that wise old soul back into its watery home to laugh and judge us one more day.