IN THE BEGINNING

In the beginning: a portion of Miss Gone-overseas (an early version and under an early working title) came out in a glossy Guam magazine, Latte (named for the indigenous stone pillars, not the fancy coffee drink). I amended my own name, using my middle name instead of my gender-confusing first name. Jesse Mesa Toves, an 18 year-old kid, produced the graphics (Jesse has since gone on to graphic novel fame). And Manny Crisostomo (a once-upon-a-time pulitzer prize winner at the Detroit Free Press) was Latte’s publisher and editor-in-chief (Manny’s since gone on to The Sacramento Bee).

Earlier than the beginning, soon after finishing the piece, I sent it to a friend who still lived on Pohnpei -- the late Tom Maine. He shared it with a mutual friend, Patti Arthur who, with her husband, were proprietors of the finest hotel in Micronesia. (See an older blog for more on the Arthurs and this great hotel.) Patti, in turn, passed it on to Manny Crisostomo in Guam, and Manny asked to publish it. Of course I was thrilled -- but with reservations.

Tom and Patti liked it, but they were my friends. And although Manny agreed to publish it, I thought maybe it was only as a favor to Patti. However, during the course of proofing and finalizing the piece -- which entailed several faxings from Louisiana (where I was then living) to Guam -- Manny told me the girls (young women, we say nowadays) who set the magazine’s copy were very concerned. They wanted to know what happened to her, to the woman who wrote the diary. He told me they did not understand it was a fabrication; they believed it was a true story.

For a writer, it does not get any better than that!