Alice I Have Been

A couple of years ago, in that rosy flush of a little success, I did something stupid. I promised my husband, myself, a taxi driver and several bemused bystanders that I would get a tattoo.

After publishing my first book, I packed my bags, used up all of my husband's Marriott points, and hit the road -- only to experience what many authors had experienced before me.

Even though I still sometimes sigh when a reader insists I've written something that I know, in my heart, I absolutely did not, I don't argue. Instead, I remind myself how very, very lucky I am that people are reading my book and talking about it.

Dodgson spent the rest of his life trying to replace her; Alice spent the rest of hers trying to escape him.