Plunge in, Sit Back, and Wrestle with Words

February 2024 Substack

Plunge in, Sit Back, and Wrestle with Words

I often get asked why we have a summer home in Maine. On the surface, most assume we chill along Maine’s coast to escape Austin’s red-hot heat during the summer. Really, there’s more to it.

During the 1980s, I struggled as a young writer to find my way, my voice, and just about everything else. One summer, my husband and I decided to take a break and headed to Maine where I had been a camper at one of Maine’s many summer camps. We signed up for a windjammer cruise and headed out into Penobscot Bay. By the time we returned to port, we were convinced that a small summer hideaway along the Maine coastline would be the perfect respite from Silicon Valley’s frenetic startup scene. We found a small summer cottage and began to explore Maine during the summer.

Another reason for being drawn to Maine was my association with my favorite writer, E. B. White. I loved his children’s books, so much so that I named my small outboard motorboat, moored outside our cottage, Margalo, after the small yellow canary in White’s book, Stuart Little.

Foolishly, I imagined that his talents as a concise and magical storyteller would drift along the coastline and infuse my writing with characters such as the mouse-like Stuart Little.