About Patricia Schudy

  I am the first-born of my parents’ five children, the oldest daughter. When I was three years old, we moved to Kansas City –where I went to elementary and secondary schools, learned how to ride a bike and roller skate, discovered library books,  and formed  friendships.  I left for a college education  in the next-door state of Kansas and subsequently traveled to parts of the world previously unknown to me. The Kansas City area is where I fell in love with and married my husband, and where we raised our five children. 

 At different times, my professional activities would describe me as teacher, journalist, youth advocate, public relations consultant, co-founder of a non-profit organization, blogger and author.  A common thread running through this multi-colored tapestry has  been relationships. They are integral to everything I am and do. 

As  a free-lance journalist, I wrote:  More than 200 bylined articles and columns and provided photographs for the Kansas City STAR/Sunday Magazine, regional and trade publications. Opinion pieces for the National Catholic Reporter. Two nationally syndicated (“Talk to Us,” and “Let’s Talk,” Universal Press Syndicate) advice columns for young people.  As a regional field editor for Better Homes and Gardens/Meredith Corp; I also wrote bylined features for their shelter magazines.

Now, as a fiction writer, I am a member of  SINC (Sisters in Crime), Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers,  and Northern  Colorado Writers.

My long-time passion for strengthening healthy relationships has been a significant factor in my choice of volunteer activities–even international ones.  Early on, in Paris, I represented People-to-People, an international organization headquartered in Kansas City, in  successful efforts to establish activity exchanges between American and French classrooms. Nearly three decades later, I was a delegate to Peace Links meetings in Moscow and what is now St. Petersburg. American and Soviet women,  representatives of  government, business, and the culture of the two nations, met to explore ways to avert the consequences of the ongoing Cold War.

I am now a transplant from the Midwest. Several years ago my late husband and I left Kansas City and headed west to Colorado. It’s a beautiful state to visit and a terrific place to live. It is  from here that I stay in touch with my children and (latest count) eight grandchildren.  And where I have resumed  activities as an author, blogger, and photographer.