Rediscovering Patches: A Novel That Aged Like Fine Wine

Sometimes the stories we write aren't meant for the moment we write them. They're meant for the moment we're ready to truly understand them.

In 1995, I wrote a novel called Patches. I wrote in my very first computer. It was a story that consumed me—set in Prohibition-era Akron, New York, following the intertwined lives of three friends: Ben Johnson, the son of a lumber mill owner; the studious and sophisticated Daniel Sutter, whose family is visiting from Chicago; and Patches Jimerson, a two-spirit Seneca child whose very existence challenged the rigid boundaries of that time.

When I finished it, I did what so many writers do with work- I stuck it in a drawer, believing that it was not good enough for public consumption, and I was certainly not qualified to call myself an author. It took three decades to reconcile that...

The Story That Waited

For nearly three decades, Patches sat quietly, waiting. Life moved on. I grew, changed, experienced loss and love and all the messy, beautiful complications that shape us. And recently, when I pulled that manuscript out and began reading, something remarkable happened.

The story hadn't changed. But I had.

Through Wiser Eyes

Like a fine wine that needs time to develop its full complexity, Patches has aged beautifully—not because the words on the page transformed, but because the eyes reading them now see with greater depth and understanding.

The themes I explored in 1995—friendship across cultural divides, forbidden love, the weight of secrets carried across a lifetime, the tragedy of lives cut short—resonate even more powerfully today. The story of Ben Johnson, who lives decades in solitude guarding the memories of Daniel and Patches, feels more urgent and necessary than ever.

What I wrote as a young writer exploring difficult territory, I now refine as someone who understands the nuances of grief, the complexity of identity, and the courage it takes to tell stories that matter.

A Story for Our Time

Patches opens with a frame story set in the 1990s, where Robert Johnson is thrust into a terribly timed, unwanted role of caretaker for his estranged Great Uncle Ben, a reclusive relative relative Robert has never met and barely ever heard anything about his entire life. Soon, he discovers Uncle Ben's diaries. As Robert reads, the Prohibition-era story unfolds—a tale of three friends bound together by an apple tree they rescued and planted, a symbol of resilience that mirrors Ben's decades of silence.

The novel explores Seneca culture and naming practices through Patches, whose surname Jimerson connects to Mary Jemison, the famous white woman adopted by the Seneca. It examines what it meant to be different in a time and place that demanded conformity. And it asks what we owe to the memories of those we've loved and lost.

So...Why Now?

I'm bringing Patches out of that drawer because the world is ready for it—and so am I. The conversations we're having about identity, about honoring Indigenous voices and stories, about the long shadow of secrets and shame, about the many forms love can take—these are the conversations Patches has been waiting to join.

As I refine the manuscript, I'm not rewriting the story. I'm polishing it, deepening it, bringing to bear everything I've learned about craft and compassion in the years since I first wrote it. I'm looking at it through eyes that have seen more, understood more, felt more.

The Journey Ahead

Patches is planned for release in 2027, more than three decades after the first draft was written. Between now and then, I'll be sharing more about the story, the characters, and the process of bringing a decades-old manuscript into the light. I'll explore the research behind the Prohibition-era setting, the importance of representing two-spirit identity with respect and authenticity, and what it means to revisit your own work as a different person than you were when you created it.

If you've ever put something away because it wasn't the right time, or because you weren't ready, or because the world wasn't ready—I hope Patches reminds you that some stories are worth the wait.

Some stories need time to breathe, to age, to become what they were always meant to be.

Patches is one of those stories. And I can't wait to share it with you.