Patty A. Gray, PhD
proprietor of rutabaga writer
Patty A. Gray has been through several incarnations.
Prior to her international academic career, she dabbled in filmmaking, photography, and theater in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and worked as a commercial film editor in Detroit and Chicago. An idee fixe led her to get a PhD in anthropology, and she spent years making months-long field trips to the Russian Far North. She held academic positions in Germany, Alaska, and Ireland.
As a university professor, researcher, and published author, she racked up years of experience editing all kinds of writing projects, from undergraduate essays to postgraduate theses and dissertations to colleagues’ articles for publication. Much of that experience involved smoothing out the language of non-native English writers. You can learn more about Patty’s academic accomplishments at patty-gray.com.
More recently, Patty found the courage to pursue her earliest aspiration, which was to write fiction. Her first novel is drafted and in revision revised. During a sabbatical year in Madison, WI, she took an intensive novel-writing workshop at the Madison Writers’ Studio with novelist (and brilliant writing teacher) Michelle Wildgen. The experience was transformative for her.
In a been-there-done-that frame of mind, and craving liberation, Patty jumped off the academic track to enjoy a new incarnation as a freelance writer & editor. She loves the processes of writing and editing, and is ready to use her skills to help fellow writers make their work the best it can be.
Got a project you need help with? Get in touch.
What’s with the name?
It’s a family thing. My dearly departed brother, David Gray, was (among other things) a rock ‘n’ roll drummer, and he played with the Sacramento-based Rutabaga Boogie Band (that’s him, center in both photos). The Rutabagas are legendary in Sacramento, and Dave was legendary in the Rutabagas. We lost Dave in 1993 at the age of 38; some of his Rutabaga buddies were with him at the end. Since then, Rutabaga has become sort of a family franchise for Dave’s surviving siblings – his big sister Kathy has an artisan craft business called Rutabaga Stuff, and his little sister Patty has an artisan writing & editing business called Rutabaga Writer.
