BOOKS & WRITING
Words for what matters.
Writing is where I make sense of the things that created me.
The animals I have loved, the places I have lived, the work that has shaped me, the difficult chapters, the unexpected ones, and the moments that changed the direction of my life.
Much of my published work has grown from a lifetime spent alongside animals, but my writing also reaches beyond pet loss into place, identity, nature and the unexpected turns a life can take. Sometimes that becomes poetry. Sometimes a personal essay. Sometimes it begins simply with the need to understand an experience by putting it into words.
THE POETRY COLLECTION
Tails of Tribute
A Pet Loss Poetry Collection
By Sandra Lynne Mitchell and Deborah Lee Wortmann
Tails of Tribute: A Pet Loss Poetry Collection was created as a comforting grief companion, a quiet presence to return to when the grief feels heavy, lonely or difficult to put into words.
The poems are arranged as a journey through the landscape of pet loss, moving through shock, anger, guilt, longing, remembrance and continuing love. They are there to sit beside you, not to hurry you through grief, but to remind you that what you are feeling matters and that you are not alone in it.
The collection is especially for those in the first months after losing a beloved animal, for anyone struggling with the weight of grief, or for those looking for a meaningful gift for someone facing pet loss.
PET LOSS WRITING
Writing through grief, love and remembrance.
Tails of Tribute is where I write specifically about pet loss, grief, love and remembrance.
It is a space for the thoughts that often surface after an animal dies: the guilt, the questions, the routines that suddenly feel enormous, and the memories that become part of how we keep loving them.
Alongside poetry, I share reflections, practical support and writing around grief, continuing bonds and the complicated emotions that can follow loss. The aim is not to explain grief neatly, but to offer something thoughtful to return to when you need understanding, reassurance, or simply the reminder that you are not alone.
PERSONAL ESSAYS & POETRY
Stories from a life
between places.
My personal writing is where all the other parts of my life meet.
I write about animals and falconry, years spent working in the African bush, travel and belonging, immigration and starting again, running, resilience, memory, identity and the unexpected experiences that have shaped me along the way.
Some pieces begin with a place, some with an animal, some with a difficult season of life. What connects them is the same curiosity that runs through much of my work: trying to understand where we have been, what changes us, and what we carry forward.
Read my writing on Medium
