
Prince Edward Island, or P.E.I., is a tiny east coast province in Canada. In the heat of summer my lovely island, with its white sandy beaches and laid back vibe, is a popular tourist destination, so the population varies throughout the year. In winter there are about 125,000 diehards frolicking in the snow and ice but in summer it swells by some 100,000 residents who fill the homes and cottages dotting the shoreline that are otherwise empty eight months of the year.

Yes, the ocean is what keeps me here. There is something about the salty sea in the air I breathe that makes me feel claustrophobic without it. It is tied to my survival. I worked here for a number of years as a museum curator, which I loved, but I’m an Aries and I felt the world calling me to do and try more. I am not well travelled but I did spend a year in Vancouver (at age 41! Was I crazy?) to learn filmmaking. I earn my keep now making client films in this tiny market in the hope that someday I can both write full time (my Drifters series, self-published, despite being caught between two genres – women’s literature and romance – is enjoying steady sales) and fulfill my dream of producing and directing a feature drama. In the meantime, my feature documentary The Healing Place, as well as my fiction writing, is fulfilling my creative juices.

I am blessed to live here and I am reminded of that when I can gather with friends to explore new activities, like acting in my first play or singing in a new contemporary choir. I am surrounded by beauty, not just in the landscape but also in the people of this special place. I find myself rejoicing in the simplicity of island living, in the friendships and family ties, in the land and in the roiling brisk Atlantic Ocean.

Come visit, take a dip in the cooling waters and calm your spirit. Make my home part of your epic worldwide journey as you celebrate the lives of writers with stories or poems in the anthology. I’ll put on some tea, and we’ll sit by the ocean and heed its call.