by Cyn Posner

Even though I live in San Miguel I still work in Hollywood...remotely. My day job is working for a TV and film production company. I'm a jack of all trades, and I've even mastered a couple. I read scripts to evaluate potential projects. But for months due to the writer's strike there are no projects.

My night job is writing my own scripts. I've even sold a few, enough so that I could buy a bungalow here in San Miguel, my refuge. Since the writer's union isn't allowing anyone to sell a script right now, I've had to reinvent myself, or at least redirect my literary efforts. The silver lining for me has been using the strike as an impetus to write a novel. A longer, more serious endeavor. Writing a book has been on my bucket list, but comparing myself to literary giants has stopped me every time, before I could finish a first chapter.

I've always been too hard on myself; daddy issues perhaps. But once I really got into it, the fear subsided and the fun started. A script needs to be concise. You have to squeeze out non-essential words to keep pace with the visuals. A novel is a different animal. There is room to put down my thoughts and feelings and those of the characters. Most of my life I've tried to be invisible, hiding under rugs, to not be eaten alive by sharks. So, finding more space has been a liberating process.

The book's story starts five years ago, when I caught my boyfriend cheating. I had a breakdown. Somebody pulled the plug and I went spiraling down the drain, started drinking heavily, taking pills, consumed by multiple addictions. Eventually, in a moment of clarity, I realized how toxic my Hollyweird lifestyle was. I had to escape. Brilliantly, I got on a dating app for a quick fix and found a new guy in San Miguel. I came down. We met. I fell in love... not with him, but with this town here in the mountains of Mexico.

Most people move here soberly, for convenience, the culture, the weather, the affordability... not me, I was running away from things, and ultimately from myself. Of course, everything followed me. But here at least I had a new perspective to frame the dark hole I was in, and may still be in... enjoying life in paradise.

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Cyn Posner drives an old Chevy pickup, her dog riding co-pilot, both of their heads out the window enjoying the view. Her book, Escape to Mexico will be available soon.

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