I never intended to write a memoir, At One with an Island, Salt Spring Revisited, about my time on Salt Spring Island. I mean what hasn't already been said?
Too many years ago between not intending to write the book and finally finishing it, (which took me forever), I took a course at SFU's Writer's Studio program, and then another one, and I needed to write SOMETHING back then.
The first thing that came to mind then, because I'd just returned from living on the island, was to try and capture some of my island experiences.
Then, to frame why the island has meant so much to me, I felt I had to backtrack. I had to explain some of the life stuff that had really impacted me to put me in the mindset of mid-life escape, not that it ever takes much to get me into that "escape" mindset.
I first set foot on the island and Ruckle Provincial Park and Ruckle Farm more than 30 years ago and my many "revisitings" have been some of the happiest times of my life. So I set out writing about some of my experiences, and some of the people I encountered while living there.
It gives me a lot of pleasure to re-read these experiences and revisit that time. I wrote it mainly for myself, to have a tangible legacy of that time in my life.
It's scary to put a book out there about a real place and real people, even if some of their names have been changed.
I thought about it for a long time, too long for sure. Gave up, went back to it and finally finished it a few months ago.
If all goes well, it will be available through Amazon.ca books one week from this posting, beginning Sept. 17, 2024 at 5pm Pacific Daylight Time.
Feel free to buy it. Because you're curious, because you're a mid-life female looking to shake things up in your own life and want to read about someone else's experience, or because you might even be in it!