Rhode Island Authors Showcase - Featuring Pat Mitchell!
The Rhode Island Authors Showcase is back! Each day in November, I’ll be featuring a different RI author. Each post features a giveaway – a book, an anthology, or something else! All you have to do to be eligible for the daily drawing is leave a comment on the blog post. I’ll use a random number generator to pick a winner one week after the blog post (to give you time to catch up).
By commenting on each post, you’re also entered to win our bigger prizes: GRAND PRIZE is a $250 Amazon gift card, BONUS PRIZE is a $100 Amazon gift card, and the CHEER UP YOU WON SOMETHING PRIZE is a $50 Amazon gift card. The big prizes will be chosen, again using a random number generator, on December 7.
PLEASE NOTE: If the author contacts you to let you know you’ve won, you must respond within THREE DAYS or we’ll have to draw another winner.
So happy to welcome my friend Pat Mitchell to the blog! She's got a new book coming out and I couldn't be more excited. Get to know my pal:
Do you write under your own name or an alias? I write as Pat Mitchell (changed from 'Patricia L' to Pat for the new book)
Where is your hometown? Johnston, Rhode Island
What genre(s) do you write? So far I have written a memoir and a middle grade fiction book. I think I’m going to try YA next! I love expository writing too, so nothing is out of the question at this point.
What have you written? A Girl From the Hill – My Mother’s Journey from Italian Girl to American Woman (2013); Goodbye Pound Cake (2022)
Who are some of your favorite authors?Up to 3 favorite authors – new: David Sedaris, Phillipa Gregory, Lois Lowry
What were your favorite books growing up? The House at Pooh Corner, The Outsiders, Stuart Little
What do you like best about writing? The best part about writing is the feeling when someone reads your work and connects with it. It’s like they are connecting to me and it’s both gratifying and humbling.
What do you find most challenging about writing? Creating the initial story. I feel like once I have the general plot it becomes fun to fill in the pieces. But trying to come up with an interesting idea is difficult.
Where do you draw your inspiration? Usually I deal with feelings I have or have had to deal with in the past, and I build characters around them. There is always some part of me or something that’s important to me at the most at the root of my work.
You’ve just been given the chance to collaborate with Phillipa Gregory. What's the title going to be? The title of the book would be Blood and Dirt, a historical fiction account of the Irish Famine and Queen Victoria.
Inspired by the memory of her mother to register for this year’s Newport Bridge Run, Rhode Island’s most popular long-distance running race of the year, 14-year-old Michelle Natale envisions herself getting fit, sporting a perfect body, and finally silencing the Hyenas and their boyfriends at Apple Valley Middle School who bully her and call her Pound Cake.
But when Michelle invites her best friend Mandy on the journey from overweight outcasts to beautiful winners, Mandy declines. Instead, she takes a different path to happiness, and the two friends nearly destroy everything that’s most important.
Michelle learns from her relationships with her science-nerd father, her obnoxious big brother, her dreamy new running coach, her mini-me dog, and even Elvis Presley bringing messages from beyond, that true beauty comes from family, friendship, healthy choices, and being happy with who you are.
Pat is offering a copy of her new novel, Goodbye Pound Cake to one lucky winner! To be eligible, just answer this question? Did you (*or do you) have a nickname? Share it if you want to!
