Anais Nin

I discovered Anais Nin while we were living in a warehouse in downtown LA in 1985. Anais had died in 1977, the year I left Los Angeles to move to Berkeley, so only eight years prior. I passionately read everything Anais wrote - all seven of her published diaries, all her novels, and all the letters she and Henry Miller exchanged. I also read most of Henry Miller’s work, piecing together their flaming, not so secret romance. She was married the entire time to Hugh Parker Guiler, and Henry, or course, was married to June .

I had been keeping feverish, detailed journals since I was sixteen, so for almost ten years by the time I discovered Anais. Reading Anais validated my writing practice and inspired me to continue journaling, which I still do to this day, like so many writers. She also influenced my sexual explorations with numerous lovers over the years, as well as my unhindered psychological analyses of my love relationships. I studied French literature in college, traveled to France several times, worked in a French summer camp in the Alps when I was nineteen. I still consider Anais Nin, along with Patti Smith, a patron saint.