Author of TRACES, the 2024 Sarton Winner for Historical Fiction
What prompted Patricia Hudson, the author of this year’s Sarton Award winner for Historical Fiction, to write Traces was the anger she felt when reading a biography of Daniel Boone in which the women were barely mentioned. Patricia notes that although the biographer, John Filson, actually lodged with the Boone family in Kentucky while gathering material for the book that made Daniel famous, the book only refers to Boone’s wife, Rebecca, as “wife.”
“Filson could easily have collected Rebecca’s stories, and the fact that he didn’t is what fueled my research,” Patricia says. “But there were only traces of the women. I pretty quickly realized that if I wanted to bring these women’s stories back to life, it would have to be as a work of fiction that incorporated my extensive research.”
A freelance writer for more than thirty years, Patricia has written for a multitude of magazines and was a contributing editor at Americana magazine for more than a decade. She fell in love with history as a young child growing up in East Tennessee and listening to family stories, including one vividly describing a Civil War skirmish that took place on the road right in front of the family farm.
While she knew back then she wanted to be a writer, it wasn’t until she was sixteen and met a published author that she realized one didn’t have to live in New York or Los Angeles to become one. “When I discovered that East Tennessee author Wilma Dykeman had built a career writing for national publications like Harpers and the New York Times, in addition to publishing novels, I decided my dream of becoming a writer wasn’t so far-fetched.”
Patricia started college as a journalism major, but quickly decided she wasn’t cut out for newspaper work and switched her major to history, earning a bachelor’s degree in American history, then a master’s degree in library and information science. Her first professional job was as a university reference librarian. But after she was offered a chance to travel and write for Americana, she resigned her tenure-track position and became a full-time freelance writer, first with Americana and later as a regular contributor to Southern Living.
“Early in my career, an author told me, ‘If you can imagine doing anything else with your life, then do that. Only write if you truly can’t be happy otherwise.’ I loved my years of doing magazine profiles of interesting people, from a woman who swam the Bering Strait to a man who was dedicated to restoring plantation houses along the Mississippi River.”
Hudson says her search for the Boone women proved that her passion lies in bringing women who did amazing things but remain in the shadow of the men in their lives, back into the public eye. “Forgotten women stories are everywhere.” She is currently working on a book about a woman who lived in England in the late 17th century and had a profound impact on the establishment of the colony of Pennsylvania.
Patricia lives in Knoxville, Tennessee, with her husband, photographer Sam Stapleton, and is a big believer in being part of a community of writers. She urges other writers to find their own writing community. “We can all learn from each other.” The award-winning author also urges writers not to be too hard on themselves if they don’t immediately meet their goals.
“When I was a very young writer, my goal was to have my first novel published before I turned forty. In reality, during my thirties, I was busy building my freelance career while raising two daughters. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t find the time to get a novel written. I spent years feeling like a failure because of a silly, self-imposed deadline. Please don’t do that to yourself,” she advises.
“Keep writing, keep submitting. Find a story you’re passionate about writing, and eventually you will find people who are passionate about reading it.”
