View

Virginia Woolf said that for a woman to write fiction she must have two things: a room of her own (with key and lock) and enough money to support herself.  E.M. Forster's heroines in the pensione in Florence insisted on a room with a view.  My view is: it helps to have a room of one's own with a view. 

Here is the view from the window in Sitka, Alaska, where I wrote fiction 99% of the time, nonfiction 1%.  When I looked up from my work at the kitchen table, there were whales, ducks, gulls, mountains, forested slopes, and fishing boats on the move.  The tide was always there to remind me, too, that the earth has a pulse.  Helped me stay alert and focused as I wrote about water and our relationship to it.

Thank you Carolyn Servis and Dorik Mechau of the Island Institute, Dave and Marge Steward, Joan VanderWerp and Bob Ellis, and the friendly community of Sitka.  It was a remarkable time.