While I Was Gone is the name of the next novel by Sue Miller, and gone is what Miller is -- from longtime publisher HarperCollins. Miller will now be published by Knopf, with editor Jordan Pavlin making the winning, (rumored to be $750,000) bid on agent Maxine Groffsky's multiple submission of Miller's partial manuscript. Pavlin describes While I Was Gone as "the story of a woman whose comfortable life is disturbed by the arrival of an acquaintance from her troubled past. It's about the friction between who we are and who we tell ourselves we are, and the choices we make as we protect or betray the people we love." Pavlin, who arrived at Knopf from Little, Brown about four months ago, plans to publish sometime in 1998. Although there were rumors that Miller was unhappy with HarperCollins -- her last novel, The Distinguished Guest, failed to make some bestseller lists -- Groffsky had this official comment: "Over the past 10 years and through many internal shifts in the house, Sue Miller has published five books with Harper &Row, now HarperCollins. Having a new novel after a hiatus of several years, she felt it was time to make a change and is very happy to have found a new home at Knopf." The film adaptation of Miller's short story Inventing the Abbotts will be in theaters April 4.