Ask the Author: Pat Garber
Answered Questions (7)
Pat Garber
Write! I think everyone has worthwhile things to say, be they in poetry or prose. Everyone has stories to tell. And write for yourself, saying whatever feels right. Later, you can think about getting published.
Make yourself sit down and put sentences on paper, even if you aren't sure what you will say. Writing begets more writing, and before long, it will start to feel right.
Make yourself sit down and put sentences on paper, even if you aren't sure what you will say. Writing begets more writing, and before long, it will start to feel right.
Pat Garber
A leatherback sea turtle follows what she thinks is a jellyfish--one of its favorite foods (actually a balloon released at a birthday party miles away.) Not watching where she is going, she finds itself lost in a huge, mile-wide patch of plastic detritus which, just as she ingests the deadly balloon, envelopes her.
Pat Garber
My latest book is "My Shining Palace; a Love Story to Ocracoke Island, 1985 and 2019." The idea evolved as I struggled with the loss of my home on Ocracoke Island to the ravages of Hurricane Dorian in September of 2019. It seemed natural for me to journal about all that I and my fellow islanders were going through in the year that followed. With much time to reminisce, my thoughts returned to the first year I was at Ocracoke. I decided to write about that as well.
Pat Garber
I am working on a memoir about the three years I lived and taught on the Havasupai Indian Reservation at the bottom of the Grand Canyon in Arizona.
Pat Garber
Writing serves, for me, as a kind of therapy. It gives me the opportunity to both engage with and escape the rest of the world. Unless I am writing for a newspaper or magazine, in which case I have a definite topic, guidelines, and remuneration, I write for myself. I write about what I feel; what I believe; what is important to me. If I can share these thoughts with others, I am glad, but if not, I am content to keep them to myself. They might simmer on a back burner for ten or twenty years before finally making themselves to the published page.
Nature is my greatest passion, and writing gives me the opportunity to be an advocate for wildlife and the natural world. It gives me an incentive to learn more of the science and find ways for us all to make better environmental choices.
Much of my work is based on events from my past--memories from childhood and my past experiences. Writing about them allows me to flee from the more painful side of reality. I immerse myself in my past, often losing track of anything else for hours. Sometimes I don't want to re-emerge!
I also enjoy writing fiction. I have published two children's books and one novel, with two more in the works. This is just purely fun as I allow my imagination to run wild, not knowing what will emerge. I look forward to doing more of this.
Nature is my greatest passion, and writing gives me the opportunity to be an advocate for wildlife and the natural world. It gives me an incentive to learn more of the science and find ways for us all to make better environmental choices.
Much of my work is based on events from my past--memories from childhood and my past experiences. Writing about them allows me to flee from the more painful side of reality. I immerse myself in my past, often losing track of anything else for hours. Sometimes I don't want to re-emerge!
I also enjoy writing fiction. I have published two children's books and one novel, with two more in the works. This is just purely fun as I allow my imagination to run wild, not knowing what will emerge. I look forward to doing more of this.
Pat Garber
I make myself sit down with self-orders to write fifteen sentences, regardless of whether they are good, bad or ugly. I might end up deleting all of them before I am finished, but I usually find something to jump-start me.
Pat Garber
The Overstory by Richard Powers intrigues me. I believe that trees and other plants have far more awareness than most humans give them credit for, and the author explores this idea. I am also interested in seeing how the characters strive to find solutions to our climate crisis.
On a lighter note, my friend Cynthia has recommended Louise Penny's mystery series set in Quebec. I want to try them and if I like them, to escape into a world far from Covid, ugly politics, and angst.
On a lighter note, my friend Cynthia has recommended Louise Penny's mystery series set in Quebec. I want to try them and if I like them, to escape into a world far from Covid, ugly politics, and angst.
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