BIRDWATCHING ON EDISTO

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Birdwatching on Edisto was the working title of my second novel but people either thought is was non-fiction (a field guide) or were confused about how to pronounce “Edisto.” So, yeah, went with The Bird in Your Heart. It’s about an Atlanta advertising executive who divorces, loses his job, and returns to his family’s ancestral home on a South Carolina sea island. Although he plans to sail off to see the world, his mother is going blind and the old place needs huge repairs.

birdwatching on Edisto South Carolina sea island

Bad things happened, an entire run of them that shut me down, caused me to withdraw from everything except my inner self.

One afternoon, in a hammock, I took a photo of myself. Just my legs. But there was no one to send it to. No one to understand.

I needed a sidekick so I sketched an armadillo because they’re crusty on the outside but not within. I made him my butler. Crusoe’s manservant Friday.

We began interacting—my hammock photo speaking to that critter, that critter speaking back.There’s a folder of cartoons somewhere. For now there’s just this one. (LINK)

Eventually after that I began writing novels.

I’m still a hermit, marooned you might say, but leaving my shell more and more—my inner self seeking its freedom through writing.