I’ve been a singer and songwriter since 1997. Before that and between times, a graphic artist and book illustrator. As I transitioned out of career performing in 2006, I began writing personal essays, short fiction, and poetry.

I am interested in music and songwriting, my experiences in nature (including human nature), small towns, horses, animals, and the weather. In fiction, I explore my theories about why people and things are the way they are. And other stuff. I live in the country near Ithaca, New York.

As a staff writer at Cornell University, my articles appeared in The Cornell Chronicle, Ezra Magazine, AAP News, and on aap.cornell.edu. An essay is included in Ithaca Area Bookstores, by Sharon K. Yntema (2023, Skylark Ink).

I‘m finishing a novel, The Low Lands (literary fiction). An excerpt was published by The Write Launch.

The Low Lands sweeps the reader into the visible and invisible world of a family in crisis. A troubled high school senior drowns in a flood when she is trapped in a truck driven by her father’s AA sponsee. The gates between life and death and past and present open as Cynthia and Robert uncover what happened to their daughter, to themselves, and the way from loss to forgiveness. Richly set in New York’s Finger Lakes region, The Low Lands is a compassionate story of imperfect people struggling with loss, accountability, addiction, and transformation.

On that Friday night in mid-August, long-armed hills rested around the Finger Lakes. Cataracts and creeks roared, forests were slick and swampy, and all creatures sought higher ground. Many people would remember the summer of 2008 for the record-breaking rainfall. Some would remember the girl who drowned.

Visit my music website. Find downloads and videos on the web, iTunes, Amazon, YouTube, etc. Listen on Spotify, Pandora, and soundcloud.

I have a photography and design blog, too: sway2this.com

Unless otherwise noted, all material posted, is the intellectual property of Patti Witten, © all rights reserved.