To accurately express the intense feeling of holding a finished copy of my memoir in my hands is surprisingly difficult. When I try to find something to correlate it to, giving birth comes to mind. Even though I’ve never actually done that, I imagine the two experiences share some aspects . . . prolonged pain, euphoric joy, a seemingly endless gestation, among others. Then again, I may be completely off my rocker. Please do not take offense if I am. Creating a book is certain

Most of my friends and acquaintances know that I ran away with an Italian circus in my twenties, and some know that I have been writing stories about those years for some time. A few know that my memoir, Love in the Elephant Tent, will be published in May of this year. But not many know quite what has gone into that process. I began to compile stories from my under-the-big-top adventures in 1994, a few years after I returned to the US from Italy. It was slow going. I mean slo