A Green One for Woody - Couverture souple

Michigan native Patrick O’Sullivan lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina with his wife of thirty years, Carrie. He has degrees from Hope College and Wake Forest University. Professionally, he has spent most of his career toiling in a variety of advertising and marketing positions. He enjoys running, golfing and fishing and his favorite place to do the latter is in the gin-clear waters of Lake Michigan near Beaver Island, off the dune-lined shores of Northern Michigan – a place that plays a transformational role in his book. For decades Patrick jotted notes on the back of bar napkins, envelopes and sandwich wrappers – whatever was handy. He’d squirrel them away in a drawer or in a file folder and as the collection swelled so did the need to tell his story. In the winter of 2010, bored and unfulfilled with his marketing job for a technology start-up, he called his wife and told her he wanted to quit his job. “I need to write,” he said. Always the unconditionally supportive spouse, Carrie said, “Go ahead.” So, he did. That day. In just ten weeks 110,000 words poured from his soul, through his fingers and into the hard drive of his iMac. It took another eight months to whittle the manuscript down to 85,000 words and capture a cadence that satisfied his senses. The result is a true story about a boy becoming a man.

"A Green One for Woody" is a true story about a boy becoming a man. And while themes of abuse and alcoholism are common in memoirs, there is nothing common about how Patrick O'Sullivan patiently peels away the textured layers of his life to reveal truths that will cause readers to both marvel and despair, and, sometimes, celebrate. From the author...“My dad had been anointed to resurrect our family name, sullied for decades by alcoholism and suicide. He was big, bright and handsome, and blessed with a silver tongue and athletic prowess. The Tigers and the Cubs wanted him. Instead, his dad insisted he attend the University of Michigan, but a broken leg on the practice field ended his big league dreams. Then he met my mom and she got pregnant, and with my heart beating inside, she denied to her preacher dad that I was there." Years of boozing and abuse took their toll; being poor didn’t help, and his dad continued his downward spiral across the years of the author's young life. But over another decade, buoyed by friendships and uncommon love, Patrick O'Sullivan was propelled forward by an inimitable sense of humor and a faith anchored in hope. This is his story of becoming a man.