LETTERS FROM ALASKA 12 - By Carole Gibb - What I need To Do To Reach My Goals -

From Tim:

You are welcomed to the twelfth and final letter of Carole Gibb’s Fishing for Courage – Mishaps and Magic on Alaska’s Outer Coast. In letter eleven, Carole found herself unsure about what to do with her life and deciding to return to the outer coast. With a revised plan in mind she returns to the outer coast to begin the adventure of pursuing her dream,

LETTERS FROM ALASKA TWELVE

FROM: FISHING FOR COURAGE

By Carole Gibb

Dear Mary,

It occurs to me that becoming an author is more complicated than just getting my finances together and then sitting down to write. I’m beginning to see that it’s also tied in with becoming a certain kind of person; a person who can pay attention, and persist; someone who is trying to be honest about fear, and doubt, and love.

So, I now have a revised life plan.

It’s inspired by a phrase I learned while working in Tokyo. I interviewed a man about his effort to become a sushi chef. He described how he wasn’t allowed to touch a knife for his entire first year. He had to learn first through pure observation. There is an expression for this, he said. It translates to “stealing the skill.”

I love that expression.

So, my plan is to humbly place myself in the presence of one hundred masters, here on this Outer Coast. My aim will be to absorb as much as possible. And hopefully, over time, this will help me become the type of person who can tell a decent story.

How’s that for a plan?

xxoo

Carole

Dear Reader,

This story ends here, where in some ways it is just beginning. To the question of what happened next, the nutshell version is this: For the next ten years I split my time between Pelican and larger places like Juneau and Sitka. Tom and I grew apart, as people do. I did fix up the Juneau house but then sold it to buy my own cabin at Steep Cove. It’s probably not a shock to learn that’s what I did, or to hear that I was completely unprepared to do such a thing. With Fidget and everybody else I had a bunch of Outer Coast adventures, indulging my inner Huck Finn to a lovely extent. I learned to hunt up in those sometimes unforgiving peaks by myself. And I finally caught a halibut.

And that mystery novel? That actually happened, too. It turns out that I do truly love writing fiction, above all, and that has prompted a move to Seattle so I can study creative writing. I miss Alaska deeply, but setting my novels in that wondrous land keeps it alive for me. I’m glad you were able to join me on this adventure, and hope we get the chance to enjoy more together.

C a r o l e