Can a brilliant career be born from a moment of angst while hunched over a bathtub? If you’re Lissa Edwards, that’s a yes. “From the time I was cognizant of anything, I loved Glen Arbor. And I always knew I wanted to be a writer,” she says. Laughing, the proprietor of Glen Arbor Wines professes, “I often say I can write and I can pour wine; those are my only two skills. I have no others!” Nine months ago, Edwards retired from what is now called Traverse, Northern Michigan, where her career as a writer and editor spanned almost four decades. Throughout, Edwards mastered the ability of sussing out compelling stories where no one else was looking. Her ideas were virtually inexhaustible and her process uniquely her own—so much so that her colleagues coined the affectionate term “Lissariffic.”
