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I'm on a blogging break until Wednesday, August 1st. To keep you amused in the meantime, here's a cat picture.

I'm on a blogging break until Wednesday, August 1st. To keep you amused in the meantime, here's a cat picture.

I'm on a blogging break until Wednesday, August 1st. To keep you amused in the meantime, here's a cat picture.

I'm on a blogging break until Wednesday, August 1st. To keep you amused in the meantime, here's a cat picture.

I'm on a blogging break until Wednesday, August 1st. To keep you amused in the meantime, here's a cat picture. Wait a minute, that's a dog not a cat! How did he get in here?

I'm on a blogging break until Wednesday, August 1st. To keep you amused in the meantime, here's a cat picture.

I'm on a blogging break until Wednesday, August 1st. To keep you amused in the meantime, here's a cat picture.

Image via The Graphics Fairy Mr. Blog turned five years old today. He's getting to be such a big boy. Can you believe that this is his 844th post? And that he has 1.6k Facebook followers ? They sure do grow up fast, don't they. Every year on Mr. Blog's birthday, I do a little reflection on blogging. On his first birthday, I had a look at how Mr. Blog stacked up against the criteria for a good blog . On his second birthday, I shared some random thoughts on blogging including wondering what type of blog The Cynical Sailor really was. On his third birthday, I talked about monetizing (or not) one's blog with Adsense and Amazon . I completely forgot about his birthday last year. Oops. {If you want to see other posts on blogging tips and tricks from myself and others, check out this page .} * * * This year, I thought I'd talk about something a wee bit crazy that I did - starting a second blog over on my author site . Yes, it's a bit insane to manage not one, but tw...

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 - Lots of people who live a nomadic life on sailboats or in RVs use a mail forwarding service which receives your mail and forwards to your current location as required. 2 - We could have signed up with an outfit like St. Brendan's Isle , which has a really great reputation, but we went with an even better option - Mom's Mail Forwarding Inc. 3 - Yep, my mom gets our mail and forwards it to us on a regular basis. 4 - She's got a real edge over regular mail forwarding services because she goes above and beyond the call of duty. We got a letter from the IRS, so she included some Oreos to eat while we opened it. {Oreos make everything better, even tax notices.} My sister and I got my mom some wine for Mother's Day and she sent me the cork from one of the bottles because it was cute. {Who doesn't love seahorses?} She even sends intere...

I've been thinking a lot lately about how lucky I am. People have been so lovely to me during my book release, sending me messages of encouragement, giving me positive feedback, leaving nice reviews etc. It's brought many a smile to my face. But it's also made me think about all of those people out there who are disheartened, who don't feel like they can do anything right, who are feeling blue, suffering from depression etc. You know, the people who can't think of anything to smile about. It brought to mind this wonderful short film starring T.J. Thyne (you may know him from the TV series Bones) called Validation . It's about a parking garage attendant who tells people how wonderful and amazing they are - he "validates" them and brings smiles to their faces. I know we can't necessarily fix other people's problems or make all of their worries go away, but we can all help bring a smile to people's faces by offering a few words of encouragemen...

We track and report every penny we spend living aboard and cruising on Tickety Boo , our Moody 346 sailboat for a couple of reasons. 1 - It helps us see where our money is going, helps us make informed choices about where to spend our money, which in turn helps us stretch our money further so that we can keep adventuring longer. 2 - We found it really useful to check out other people's cost of cruising when we were starting out, so we figure we can return favor by sharing ours. We're currently at Indiantown Marina in Florida. Scott is working overseas so the costs are lower than if he was here. He'll be back in the next month of two and then costs are going to skyrocket as we start work on the very long list of boat projects that we have to do. You can find links to other cost updates from ourselves (on Tickety Boo, camping across the States, and our previous boat in New Zealand) and others on this page , as well as on The Monkey's Fist . * * * Cost of Cruising ...

NOTE: Normally, we post on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays, but this post is coming to you a day early due to the 4th of July celebrations in the States. 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. The fabulous co-hosts this month are Nicki Elson, Juneta Key, Tamara Narayan, and Patricia Lynne. 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: "What are your ultimate writing goals, and how have they changed over time (if at all)?" Check out how people have answered this month's question, as well as the other insecurities and...

Clockwise from upper left - six things that start with "C": (1) cat; (2) another cat; (3) chocolate cake; (4) coloring books; (5) candy; and (6) coffee mug. It's time for the usual monthly recap in numbers. If you're a regular visitor over here, then you can probably guess what the primary focus was during June and I bet you're tired of hearing about it. Yes, it was all about the release of Murder at the Marina . After a whirlwind trip to Atlanta at the beginning of the month, I spent the rest of June getting everything organized for the release and then managing all of the activity that comes with a book launch. I also worked on the next book in the series, Bodies in the Boatyard, although not as much as I would have liked. I'll try to do something more interesting in July so that next month's report isn't nearly as dull. But in any event, here's all of the random nonsense that popped into my head when I reflected on the month past. 10 - How many ...