SYBIL

I never expected to finish it, much less find a publisher. And, I certainly did not in wildest imagination think the book would ever be a success.

Of course, there was the down side. It took me too long and I lost my tenure possibility at the university. (But if I am honest with myself, that might not have been the only reason.)

My wife left me. (I understood that.)

My friends thought I had died, or at least vanished. (I had.)

And, I spent more of my life in a remote area of Canada than I had ever expected. (Maybe, that is what was needed to be creative.)

I had made my escape as I had carefully planned. O.K. It didn’t go as smoothly as I had hoped. (What were the chances that I would end up at that particular lodge?) My life was a disaster.

Plan B. (Find another out-of-the-way place.)

I did. This time the result was much better. Eventually, I began to write again. Months passed. Then years. I had truly disappeared. I finally finished the book. I did the re-writes and the editing. All that was left to do was to send out the manuscript. Of course, there were the endless rejections. But at last, there was an acceptance and the book was published.

Before I knew it, checks were coming in. A lot of checks. I felt like a rock star without ever seeing my audience. O.K. It wasn’t quite like that, but I realized my life now had new options. The beach. I wanted to return to the beach.

There was enough money that I could purchase a condo at a beach resort. Surely, more stories would come to me there.