Patti Eddington

Patti Eddington is a newspaper and magazine journalist whose favorite job ever was interviewing the famous authors who came through town on book tours. She never dreamed of writing about her life because she was too busy helping build her husband’s veterinary practice, caring for her animal obsessed daughter whose favorite childhood toy was an inflatable tick and learning to tap dance. Then fate, and a DNA test, led her to a story she felt compelled to tell. Today, the mid-century modern design enthusiast and former dance teacher enjoys being dragged on walks by her ridiculous three-legged dog, David, and watching the egrets and bald eagles from her deck on a beautiful bayou in Spring Lake, Michigan.   

Facebook: @patti.eddington

Instagram: @pattieddingtonauthor

Do you have another artistic outlet in addition to your writing? Do you sew? Paint? Draw? Knit? Dance?

I dance. I grew up in a rural Michigan town with a population of only a few hundred. There were no dance studios, but from the time I read the Rand McNally book The Little Ballerina I wanted desperately to be a dancer. I took my first ballet class as a freshman in college. Through my young adult and middle years I took classes in ballet, jazz and tap, then when I was 52 I began the lengthy and arduous process to become a certified dance fitness instructor. I still teach several classes a week and it is absolute bliss. I never got a tutu, but I absolutely experience the joy.

What do you worry about?

It would be easier to list the things I don’t worry about.

Is there a genre of music that influences your writing/ thinking. Do you listen to music when you write.?

A few years ago my daughter was answering an on-line “how well do you know your mother” questionnaire which asked what kind of music I like. Her answer was that I have the broadest and best appreciation of music of anyone she knows. I hope that’s true. I love Charlie Puth as much as I love Frank Sinatra and Dua Lipa as much as I love Michael McDonald. I listen to music so endlessly I’m constantly dealing with annoying ear worms. It’s very hard for me to pin down one favorite genre but if it helps at all  I had a cat named Boz Scaggs and our current three-legged, scoundrel dog is named Dave Brubeck.

Is there another profession you’d like to try?

I have a dance student who renovates mid-Century homes to bring them back to their former glory. Her knowledge is in incredible and vast. In my next life I will buy every decaying home with a butterfly roof and a carport and give them new life.

What’s the oddest thing a reader has asked you?

Someone asked me if I knew the girl I wrote about in my memoir. My answer was “sometimes.”