Photo by Lauren Radack
Who I Am
My first foray into fiction came when I was sixteen and working at my first job, cold-call soliciting for a carpet cleaning company. I’d tell anyone who answered that we just happened to have a truck in their neighborhood and would love to swing by, even though they were the next name up in the phone book and the company only owned one truck.
I’ve brought a passion for storytelling to every job since, telling true tales. That included hustling as an award-winning investigative reporter on Capitol Hill and promoting technology and innovation as a senior communications official in the Obama Administration. I even included creative nonfiction as part of my studies when pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in Writing and have won literary awards for some of my published essays. Yet a passion for fiction remains central to my core.
I’m currently working on a thriller under the guiding hand of my literary agent, Adam Chromy of Movable Type. The novel focuses on a team of Obama Administration alums who must work together to save democracy, what you might call a “League of Extraordinary Geeks.”
Why a thriller?
Patrick’s thriller-in-progress weaves together the many threads of his professional writing career. For a decade he was an award-winning reporter on Capitol Hill covering technology policy, chronicling the federal government’s failure to keep up with emerging technologies, including the Internet, wireless communications, and cybersecurity. As a think tank senior fellow and a trade association CEO, Patrick continued his focus on technological innovation, engaging regularly with Silicon Valley and speaking multiple times at tech-focused conferences including CES and SXSW.
In 2011 the Obama Administration recruited Patrick based on his rare combination of communications skills and tech policy savvy. During his five years serving President Obama as a senior communications official, he facilitated the selection process for the President’s National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the highest honor an inventor can achieve in the United States. He also managed the federal government’s partnership with the National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF). In that role, he oversaw NIHF’s Alexandria, Virginia, museum, served as an ex officio member on NIHF’s board, and even participated in the selection of new inductees.
At the conclusion of the Obama Administration in early 2017, Patrick relocated to San Diego, California, where he continues to work in marketing and communications and served as President of the San Diego Writers and Editors Guild. He hasn't forgotten his many years in the nation's capital, however, and is applying that insider insight into his new political thriller.
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South Lawn taken from the White House
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Official Administration Photo
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President Barack Obama speaks at an NMTI medal ceremony
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Oval Office, photo taken by then-White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough
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White House from the South Lawn
Click on photos to view larger versions and read captions
Beyond his professional accomplishments, Patrick is an award-winning creative writer with an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. His previous focus was on creative nonfiction, and he has been published in numerous literary journals. Patrick has had several crime fiction short stories published and is a member of the Mystery Writers of America.
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