Quick Reads: A Collection of Short Stories (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781976180019)

A sixth-generation Texan, storytelling is in Pat Haddock's blood. Describing herself as Texan to the bone, she rarely meets anybody who's a stranger for long. She speaks two languages: Texan and a little English. A lifelong writer, she had two stories winning both first and second place in a high school writing competition sponsored by the Talespinners League of Texas. But, as with many writers, life intervened allowing precious time to pass. Then, in 2010, she became serious about developing her writing skill as a marketable talent, so, after spending over 50 years in the hi-tech industry as an administrator, she retired in 2013 to write-among other things. Her work often carries two underlying themes: First, life mirrors attitudes and actions, shaping what boomerangs back. Hence, a positive outlook and generous actions yield a productive life. Second, nobody gets out of this life alive, so let's have fun muddling through it. Pat's love of family, pets, and family history come through in her writing. Her often quirky characters reflect her sense of humor and understanding of what makes us all different. With a dual writing personality, she can dish out punishment for wrongdoing in one piece, and frolic through another, as evidenced by five published short stories in Dallas Writers Journal and its successor, Texas Writers Journal Quarterly where eleven stories appear to date. Two of her stories won recognition in the 2014 Annual Texas Writers Journal competition and another won the Editor's Choice and Reader's Choice awards in 2015. She won recognition in the 2016 Texas Authors Short Story competition in Historical Fiction. Pat's first book, Dear Aunt Peggy, Emails from Petey Pup is written as if by Petey, a Lhasa mix, in his vernacular. It follows his adventures and plentiful misadventures. Her second book, Amelia's Gift, is written from the perspective of a 10-year-old girl and is set in the mid-1950's. It's both a children's book and women's fiction because it allows mature women to reminisce about that simpler time in their lives. Today, three new writing projects battle for attention. Did I say she loves history? She has over 30 years invested in genealogy research-one of those writing projects follows her grandfather's life, beginning around the turn of the 20th century. Hidden Confederate gold underlies the second, and in the third, set in the present, two women find the remains of a 150-year-old skeleton on a ranch in Hamilton County.