About Patricia

The Short of It

PATRICIA LJUTIC writes fiction, essays, and poetry, with work in Bards and Sage Quarterly, upstreet, Lunch Ticket, The Broad River Review, and various anthologies. Her story "Life’s Work" was a finalist for the 2024 Rash Award, and "Do or Dash" won second place in the 2024 Writer’s Digest's Mainstream/Literary Short Story Competition. She's also a Glimmer Train finalist.

 A Little More

Born in rural New York, Patricia began writing stories at eight-years-old and never stopped. As a young adult, she followed her family to California and settled in the Bay Area. She received her Master’s Degree in Nursing Administration at the University of San Francisco, and in addition to writing, worked as Registered Nurse. She is a member of Left Coast Writers, Mystery Writers of America and a small private writers group. Patricia lives with her husband, author Kirby Surprise, and their son in the San Francisco Bay Area. Their daughter and her husband live in Everett, Washington, where Patricia frequently visits.

Patricia’s short story “Life’s Work” was a finalist in the 2024 Rash Award in Fiction sponsored by the Broad River Review. “Do or Dash” won second place in the 2024 Writer’s Digest's Mainstream/Literary Short Story Competition. Her short story “Semicolon” won an Honorable Mention Award in the 91st Annual Writer’s Digest 2022 Genre Story Contest. “Always So Happy”(previously titled “Offerings”), placed in Top 25 List for Glimmer Train’s June 2011 Fiction Open, was a finalist in the 2015 William Faulkner Wisdom Competition and recognized with a 2018 Silver Pen Writers Write Well Award. Her poem “First Prayer” placed as a finalist in the 2017 William Faulkner Wisdom Competition, and her short story “Five Dozen Prayers” was a semi-finalist that same year. “Freedom Gate” was the Second Place Winner in the 11th Annual Writer’s Digest Short Short Story Contest.