SHELTER ISLAND, NEW YORK by VALÉRIE SHIELDS I was fed up with Manhattan, living on one of the most expensive islands in the world, just to stay mostly in my dark loft and write in isolation. I wanted a different kind of loneliness, stars in the night sky, waves from my windows, green for my old dogs. I thought I would have to switch hemispheres. Fortunately I found The Rock. Shelter Island. Situated at The Atlantic tip of Long Island in Gardiners Bay, the only way to get there from The South Fork (better known as The Hamptons) or The North Fork is by ferry. My paradise was only a coach-bus ride—albeit with strict orders not to use mobile phones from tough-talking, senior-citizen conductors—from midtown Manhattan. The trip takes less than a good book, or in summer traffic, more than a bad one. For the three months of the summer…