Next in our Meet an Editor series here at Duende we have our Senior Editor, Patti Wahlberg.Â
Whatâs your approach to giving constructive feedback to a fellow writer?
Show, don't tell. Avoid abstractions. (And get an adverb shock collar.)
What in your creative portfolio are you most proud of?
Probably my novel "The Chef" loosely (okay, tightly) based on real life, but I don't have to run round nakedâI get to wrap myself up in the thinly veiled cloak of fiction.
What genres do you prefer to write?
Poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction. I wrote really bad, melodramatic poetry when I was a teenager, journaled a lot in my twenties, and continued to write really bad, melodramatic poetry. I became serious as a poet in my thirties and that was when I began having work accepted at respectable journals. In my forties I wrote a short story that everyone wanted me to continue but I thought you had to have a detailed outline of the plot before you could begin a novel, and outlines make my brain explode. But then a friend gave me Stephen King's "On Writing," and he told me, "F*ck plot. Life has no plot. Just write," and, voila! I was set free. While at Goddard I have been working on a memoir about my mother's suicide when I was eighteen. Â
In one word, how would you describe Duende?
What aspect of Duende enticed you to join?Â
Reading and publishing exciting new work while learning the ins and outs of digital publishing. bar
Do you remember the first thing you ever wrote? If so, what was it?
A novel I started when I was nine. "Molly Matchmaker."Â
What's your philosophy in life?
Leave the world a better place, I guessâno matter how small the action.Â
What or who inspires you?
I probably should say my mother, since 99 percent of my work revolves around her mental illness and suicide when I was a teenager, and/or its impact on my dysfunctional, young-to-middle adulthoodâbut I'll just say the seasons. And, of course, some random picks of favorite writers and works that inspire me: "Lolita" by Nabokov, "Stag's Leap" by Sharon Olds, Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye," "Lullabies for Little Criminals" by Heather O'Neill, Pam Houston, Margaret Atwood, Yeats, Pound, Sexton, just about anything by Sylvia Plath...and the list goes on... (Somebody get the hook.)
If you could time travel, where/when in time would you go?
I know this might sound trite, but I like where I am now. (I just wish we had a different president.)
Wallowing through the drivel to get to the diamonds.Â
List a few of your favorite things:
My home in the Vermont woods, my husband, my daughters, my annoying poodles, Rhone wines, dear friends, my writer cabin, Ba Qua Tai Chi...
I can flip you off with my toe.
Originally from Western Massachusetts, Patti migrated to Southern California on a whim at age 24, where she proceeded to sporadically attend college courses in acting and writing. Her chapbook Doom Flower was published in 2000 by Laguna Poets, and her work has been included in the journals Slipstream, Pearl, Up Against the Wall, Mother, Kiss me Goodnight, and Solace in So Many Words. However, the raising of two beautiful daughters has been, by far, her most gratifying success in life. She has recently moved back to her New England roots, and now lives in beautiful Cabot, Vermont, with her beloved husband and two toy poodle rescues.
Check our Pattiâs blog at The Way to the Clearing!
