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In addition to the usual blog posts every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday about our eccentric travel adventures and day-to-day life living aboard a sailboat, I also occasionally post on Saturdays, focusing on things related to writing such as cover reveals, book launches, reviews, interviews with authors etc. So if you're a bit of a book nerd like I am, check in on Saturdays - you never know what might pop up. * * * Today we're featuring the release of >>Death by Adverb<< by Rebecca Douglass. This is a delightful cozy mystery which I had the pleasure of reading (see below). Given the fact that I live on a sailboat, I really liked the cover. Although I do prefer my boats without dead bodies. Have a read below for more details about >>Death by Adverb<< , along with an excerpt. BLURB JJ MacGregor’s having a rotten summer. Her arm’s in a cast, her jeans are too tight, and her son is spending his vacation with his dad. To make matters worse, her relat...

  Flashback Friday takes place on the last Friday of the month. The idea is to give a little more love to a blog post you've published before that maybe didn't get enough attention, or is something you think is still relevant or even a something that you really love and want to share again. Many thanks to Michael d’Agostino for starting Flashback Friday and inspiring me to go back and revisit some of our earlier blog posts. **** This is a flashback to one of the e times we stayed at a marina in New Zealand. We normally prefer to anchor, but marinas were relatively inexpensive in New Zealand so we would stay at them occasionally to take care of life and boat chores. When we were at marinas we would run around like crazy trying to get everything done in order to get the biggest bang for our buck. After all, if we just wanted to sit around and relax, we could do that an anchorage. {This post was originally published in February 2014. You can find the original post here .}  *...

Wordless Wednesday is supposed to be about posting a photo(s) without any words. But, I'm a rule breaker, so here are a few words: 1 - I don't think I'd want to work in a barbed wire manufacturing plant. Sounds painful. 2 - In the movies, they always make it look so easy to jump over barbed wire fences. Just casually toss your jacket or sweatshirt on top of the barbed wire to protect your hands and effortlessly hop over. If I tried that, I would need a lot of bandaids. 3 - Did you know that there's a Barbed Wire Museum in Kansas? It has dioramas. I love dioramas. I love anything miniature. Except for chocolate bars. Those should be supersized. What words does this picture(s) bring to your mind when you look at it? For more Wordless Wednesday fun, click here .  Thanks for stopping by our blog - we love it when people come visit! We're also on Facebook - pop by and say hi!

I was having a Facebook conversation with Deb from The Retirement Project the other day about being stuck at Indiantown Marina for the foreseeable future instead of being out on exciting adventures. She reminded me that, if you have to be stuck anywhere, this isn't too bad of a place to be. Being surrounded by a community of cruisers isn't something to take for granted. Some people are either in the planning stages of setting out to sail and living somewhere far from the water where no one understands their dreams. Others have had to pause their adventures to fill up the cruising kitty and the people that surround them don't understand why they want to leave again. But when you're stuck at a marina, people get it. They understand your desire to point your boat off to new and exciting ports of calls. Their excitement as they head off is contagious. The stories they share when they come back are infectious. They nourish your dreams. In short, a cruising community is pret...

In addition to the usual blog posts every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday about our eccentric travel adventures and day-to-day life living aboard a sailboat, I also occasionally post on Saturdays, focusing on things related to writing such as cover reveals, book launches, reviews, interviews with authors etc. So if you're a bit of a book nerd like I am, check in on Saturdays - you never know what might pop up. **** Remember when I started that "Around the World in 80 Books" challenge? The one I was so gung-ho about, but then never finished. Yeah, I had completely forgotten about it too until my mother gave me a reminder. So, while we're land-locked and working on boat projects, I thought this would be a good time to start ticking more countries off of the list. The idea of the challenge is to read books set in 80 different countries, effectively exploring the world from the comfort of your armchair. Since my last update, I've read books set in five mo...

I don't have time for a long blog post today because I've been so busy lately. Not busy with anything that's going to make the world a better place, or at the very least keep our portlights from leaking when it's pouring down rain. Nope, just busy with working on marketing and publishing stuff for my book, which I'm sure you don't want to hear about. Unless you find book formatting fascinating, in which case, talk to me about bleed in the comments. For the rest of you, I'll tell you about someone at the marina who smiles even when he's working on crappy stuff. Seriously crappy stuff. Like driving a golf cart with a container of stinky stuff around the marina. Gross stuff that gets pumped out from people's holding tanks. You don't need any more description than that, do you? So, there I was, walking back from the shower inhaling the not very pleasant smells that accompany this golf cart wherever it goes, when I heard the guy driving in it, call o...

Wordless Wednesday is supposed to be about posting a photo(s) without any words. But, I'm a rule breaker, so here are a few words: 1 - We have tons of pictures of Roman mosaics. It was hard to pick just a few to share, so I went with those that had a nautical theme. I think my favorite is the one of the dude with crab claws coming out of his head. 2 - Would you ever have the patience to place a gazillion tiny tiles to make a picture? It's truly impressive. 3 - Scott took some of these pictures at the Bardo National Museum in Tunisia. I was amazed at all of the Roman mosaics they had in their collection. What words does this picture(s) bring to your mind when you look at it? For more Wordless Wednesday fun, click here .  Thanks for stopping by our blog - we love it when people come visit! We're also on Facebook - pop by and say hi!

I like challenges. Although, I'm  not sure why as, more often than not, I'm a complete and utter failure at them. Especially anything having to do with giving up sugar.   But I have succeeded at a few challenges - like NaNoWriMo, Around the World in 80 Books, and the Procrastination Thru Internet Surfing Challenge. {I totally made that last one up, but if it really existed, I'd nail it.} One of my favorite challenges is Blogging from A to Z . Probably because I managed to pull it off twice. The idea is to write a post every day during April (except Sundays) that relates to each letter of the alphabet. A on April 1st, B on April 2nd, C on April 3rd and so on. The first time I did the challenge in 2015, I just blogged about a bunch of random stuff. The next year I went with a theme - Nancy Drew Investigates the Case of the Missing Anchor . I decided to go with a theme again this year - "Hablas Espa ñ ol?" Or, "Do you speak Spanish?"  We're hoping to po...

Paul at Lat43 does these hysterical Morning Tea blog posts which are a brain dump of whatever pops into his head while he's writing them. I decided to steal his idea. Except, I'm drinking coffee while I write this and he drinks tea, so it isn't really stealing, is it? So, here we go - all of the random nonsense floating through my head while I sip on my morning coffee. I got a little bit of boat envy the other day after taking a tour of a Westerly Seahawk 34 that some friends just bought. It's the same size as ours and also has a center cockpit, so it was interesting to see how the layout differs. Pretty similar except it has amazing headroom. I wonder why I referred to their boat as an "it"? Everyone knows that boats are girls . This is the second boat they've owned (I think). We're on our second boat. I wonder if we'll be content with this one or look for another one someday? Whole wheat pasta is terribly disappointing. Sure, it's higher...

Wordless Wednesday is supposed to be about posting a photo(s) without any words. But, I'm a rule breaker, so here are a few words: 1 - I wonder how people decide what to name their businesses. Like the Sunshine Cafe & Bar. Were the original owners super cheerful people? Does it never get cloudy in this neck of the woods? 2 - I can't figure out what the gold circle on the Whirlpool sign is all about. It looks like some sort of halo. I asked Mr. Google what he know about it and he wasn't very helpful. Although, he did direct me to this cool site with old Whirlpool advertisements . 3 - What did we do before Mr. Google when we wanted to know something? Oh, yeah. We looked things up in the encyclopedia.  4 - I'm starting to sound like an old person with my reminiscing about encyclopedias. {Sigh} What words does this picture(s) bring to your mind when you look at it? For more Wordless Wednesday fun, click here .  Thanks for stopping by our blog - we love it when people...

I was doing some deep cleaning the other day, which primarily involves taking things out of cupboards, reorganizing stuff, and wiping everything down with vinegar to keep the mildew at bay. {Mildew is one of the issues you face when you live on a boat in a warm, humid climate.} Next to a plastic container full of bullion cubes, taco seasoning, and ranch dressing mix, I found a ziploc bag of boat cards that we've collected over the past few years. Boat cards are kind of like business cards of the cruising world. Although, unlike the rather dull cards I used to hand out in my days working in corporate la-la land, which had my name, job title, company, and contact details, boat cards are far more fascinating. Instead of a company logo, they have a picture of a boat, often anchored in an exotic location. Job titles are interesting, such as Captain, Admiral, or Chief Bottle Washer. Not something stuffy-sounding like General Manager, Organisational Development. Children and pets are prou...

In addition to the usual blog posts every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday about our eccentric travel adventures and day-to-day life living aboard a sailboat, I also occasionally post on Saturdays, focusing on things related to writing such as cover reveals, book launches, reviews, interviews with authors etc. So if you're a bit of a book nerd like I am, check in on Saturdays - you never know what might pop up. **** Today, I'm featuring reviews of three sailing-related books.... HOW NOT TO BUY A CRUISING BOAT | by Deb and TJ Akey >>How Not to Buy a Sailboat<< is a great resource for anyone who is thinking about buying a cruising boat. The authors candidly share their experiences, both the good and the bad, so that aspiring cruisers can benefit from their hard-earned lessons. I've followed Deb and TJ's blog for years and always admired their practical, down-to-earth, and accessible writing style, which is also reflected in their book. You'll feel li...

Our friend, Tech Tom, came to visit the other day. We call him Tech Tom for a reason - he's a gadget guy with the uncanny ability to fix almost anything electronic. So when he showed up with his new toy - a drone - I wasn't really surprised. I've never actually seen a drone up close and personal. They're both fascinating and scary. The thought of anyone being able to zoom in and see what you're up to is a bit frightening. But, on the flip side, the footage they shoot is pretty cool. I extracted a few photos from the raw footage. I'm not sure if extracted is the right word, but I'm not very technical, unlike Tom. You can see our boat in this photo. It's the sailboat with the gray tarp over the boom in the corner. It has one solar panel on it. Our friends next to us on Wind Spirit have three huge solar panels. They have no shortage of electricity on board, which is probably why they can operate an ice maker when out cruising. Here's one taken from mu...

The Insecure Writer's Support Group (IWSG) is a place to share and encourage, where writers can express their doubts and concerns without appearing foolish or weak. It's a great place to mingle with like minded people each month during IWSG day. Every month there ' s an optional question which may prompt folks to share advice, insights, a personal experience or story. Some folks answer the question in their IWSG blog post or let it inspire them if they're struggling with what to say. This month's question is: "How do you celebrate when you achieve a writing goal / finish a story?" Check out how people have answered this month's question, as well as the other insecurities and writing topics they may have shared by visiting the IWSG sign-up list here . If you want to see how I answered the question, have a look below. **** After pressing send and e-mailing my manuscript to my editor, I stretched my arms over my head and shouted, "Whoo-hoo!...