Sipping my glass of wine I knew the answer before I could swallow.
"I''m going to write a book about Tybee," I answered.
Tad is my neighbor on the island and he whistled while rolling his eyes and replied, "Oh boy." He didn't say it in the good way but in the "Have you lost your frigging mind" way.
The occasion was the release of my forth book "Why the Homeless Don't Have Homes and what to do about it." and I was on something of a roll. The book went on to win a "Book of the Year" award, which is nice.
My career as a writer though had been unpredictable. The first book had been crazy successful but the second one tanked, primarily because I wouldn't repeat myself. The third book was supposed to be the breakout one but the publisher had second thoughts about me and, while it did alright, not much came of it.
The "Homeless" book put me back on the map and everyone expected I would capitalize on it and write about political, social and spiritual issues. I have a file with letters from people encouraging me to highlight AIDS (still exploding at the time), a sequel focusing on politics and one from Michael Stoops, the head of the "National Coalition for the Homeless" imploring me to write more and be the nation's spokesperson.
It's a fun and loving look at the island as it was in 1995 ... "Mayberry on Acid" is how I described it.
At the time no one had written a book about Tybee and it got a lot of press when it was released, though not without its share of controversy. Some old-timers took issue with me not portraying the island as written for a Sunday School lesson. I got some hate mail and a few nasty phone calls. It's sad but it's one of the things that goes with writing.
In terms of sales, it is by far my most successful book. In fact, it remains in print all of these years later. It's uncommon for books to stay in print for so long.
People clamored for a sequel, though staying true to my inner course, I went on to write three other books about other things. None were as successful as "Dolphins".
Then I stopped writing books and focused on the Internet where I can be found daily on multiple sites. The web allows the freedom to write about anything I want. Sometimes I write about life on the island but most often dwell on more important matters like love faith, healing, spirituality and a little gay dog named Winston.
Suddenly, people are asking me for books again, which is nice. It's always nice to not be forgotten. I'm guessing this time they will be e-books though you never know. A couple of publishers have asked me for chapters. We'll see.
So I pulled out "Running with the Dolphins" and flipped through it. It's about an island that no longer really exist ... a life that is no more. A lot of the people in it are still alive though far too many are gone. I poke a lot of fun at the island in the book and it's harder to do that any more. Tybee takes itself very seriously these days.
"I put the book by itself on the shelf with my heart in it," is a Jimmy Buffett line that I love as only an writer of books can love.
It's true.
A piece of my heart is between the soft covers of "Dolphins" and while its nice to take it off the shelf and look at it every now and then, I know it'll never be like that again.
Nothing ever is.
