Writers4Higher: Writers4Higher features Pat MacEnulty

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Writers4Higher features Pat MacEnulty

Welcome to Writers4Higher

The purpose of the Writers4Higher blog: to feature authors in a new light, a fresh look at the way writers use their talents and life energies to uplift humankind. Writers4Higher doesn’t promote religious or political views. Authors are asked to answer three simple questions: simple, yet complex.

This issue, Writers4Higher features

Pat MacEnulty

Hi, Pat. Welcome to the Writers4Higher family!

Tell me about yourself. Your book(s), your life, your inspiration.

I have six books published (four novels, a short story collection, and a memoir). My most recent book is Wait Until Tomorrow: A Daughter's Memoir, which I sometimes think of as a sequel to my first novel, Sweet Fire. I grew up and lived most of my life in Florida, but now I live and teach in Charlotte NC. I have a “checkered past” which, I think, means periods of dark and light, but which also winds up as material in my books. My mother was certainly an inspiration to me. In fact, my memoir is about her in the last years of her life. She died in 2011.

I guess my work always inspired by love in some way whether it’s love of place or love of a person or even of some particular time in my life. Many of my stories are set in Florida though I’m finally getting around to writing some things based in North Carolina where I live for the time being. If you were to look for a common theme in my works, you might say they are about redemption. Lord knows I’m counting on redemption in real life, too.

Barack Obama tells us that no one get there (wherever there is) alone. That’s true of writers as well. My literary mothers (Sheila Ortiz Taylor, Lynda Schor) and my literary fathers (Harry Crews and Les Standiford) exemplified a commitment to writing that keeps me going -- even during those periods when I wonder, who the hell is ever going to read this???

In addition to the six books, I have created a small publishing company and published two of my books ( a children’s book and a self-help book) and a wonderful book called Leah’s Journey Home by a 92-year-old man named Gil Ballance.

Where do you see your writing taking you in the future?

That’s the thing, isn’t it? The thing that every writer asks himself or herself every time a piece is put away -- poets, essayists, song writers, novelists. We all wonder: is there more? Do I have more to say? We always hope the answer is yes.

Right now, I am working on a book about Transformative Writing which is based on my blog: www.theartoftransformativewriting.com. The title changes every few weeks, but my goal is to have something in print by early next year at least for my workshops. Then I’ll see about sending it off.

I’m also working on a mystery novel. I love to write mysteries even though I’ve only finished one -- my third book, Time to Say Goodbye. My intention is to have a draft of this one finished by next summer.

How do you use your talents/time to help others?

Well, I give workshops in transformative writing. I think that’s the most important thing I can do because I really believe that writing not only transforms us, but it can transform the world. I think it’s spiritual work we do when we write. It’s connecting. It’s exploring the shadow. It’s creating art. I don’t mean to sound pompous. I just know that I’ve found treasures hidden in my own shabby life that I never would have known were there if I hadn’t picked up a pen and put some words on a piece of paper.