Novelist Faith Sullivan is the doyenne of the Twin Cities’ literary community and, as do many other writers, I want to be just like her when I grow up. She already is the person I’ve always wanted to be.

We met years ago at a book signing for The Cape Ann, the first of Faith’s six novels set in Harvester, the fictional town based on tiny Lakefield in southwestern Minnesota, and Pipestone, where she attended high school.

I always thought I’d get married.

But it just never happened. I couldn’t find the right guy, or if I did he already had a wife. Several right guys already had boyfriends.

So other than a couple of unfortunate experiments in cohabitation — and even more disastrous attempts to share space with roommates — I have lived alone since 1987.

My sister Nancy tells me I snore. “The cats don’t seem to mind,” I reply, and it’s true. If I do make noise (I’ll admit to talking in my sleep) it doesn’t bother them; but, sadly, another person’s apnea disturbs me greatly, and I’d be mortified to annoy a roommate, so I prefer to sleep alone.

This essay won Grand Prize in a 1999 contest sponsored by Salon Magazine.