Succeeding at a Creative Challenge

When I visited neighbors Nancy and Vince Baclawski recently to share my May 25 feature in the Florida Weekly, co-bloggers Rocky (top) and Beamer insisted on reading the newspaper before Nancy and Vince could get their hands on it.

Editor Cindy Pierce had interviewed me in conjunction with a story I had entered in last year’s Florida Weekly Writing Challenge, an annual contest in which readers craft short stories based on photo prompts.

Although “Burned” didn’t win, it placed Number 10 out of more than 600 entries—enough to earn a write-up as a means to introduce the 2022 competition. The prompt was a photo of two sunburned men asleep on a beach in front of a mansion.

To read the interview and the story, click here.

“Burned” is one of a dozen pieces of short fiction in All That Remains. The collection features ordinary folks—and a few odd characters—overcoming adversity in a variety of settings: mysterious Southern swamps, vast Western mountaintops, and unexpected crevices in between. “Patti sweeps you in,” says author G. P. Whelan.

A digital book, All That Remains is available on Amazon for $1.99, or FREE if you sign up for my newsletter, Come to Think of It, at PattiMWalsh.com.

One girl, two worlds, and 17 ghosts: What if an alienated 12-year-old girl could restore her family’s past and then lead it into the future?

Ghost Girl, a contemporary middle-grade novel based on Celtic mythology, will be published this summer.

Learn more and sign up for notice of its release at PattiMWalsh.com