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In addition to the usual blog posts every Monday and Wednesday about our 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 an interview with Jinx Schwartz, USA Today bestselling author of the Hetta Coffey Mysteries. I first discovered Jinx and her books through the Women Who Sail Facebook group and quickly fell in love with her main character, Hetta, a sassy woman with a snazzy yacht who isn't afraid to use it. Jinx has a great sense of humor and her books have me laughing out loud from start to finish. The fact that they have a boating focus is the icing on the cake (and we all know how much I like cake). When I set out to write my own sailing mystery series , Jinx was one o...

In addition to the usual blog posts on Mondays and Wednesdays (and the occasional Friday) about life on a sailboat and other oddities, 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 Deb Akey's wonderful book, >>The Essence: Short Vignettes on Moments that Define my Life with the Sea<< . I found The Essence to be a really unique book full of beautiful photographs accompanied by short vignettes about the author's reflections of her life living on a boat and her relationship with the sea. Deb has a lovely way with words - her honesty, sense of adventure, and wonder and curiosity about the world shine through. Deb dreamed of escaping a life of unsatisfying work by selling everything and sailing off into the sunset. It'...

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 - Ahoy, mateys! It's "Talk Like a Pirate Day" ! 2 - We're not big on dressing up, but I know people who take every opportunity they can fin to don their pirate apparel. 3 - Did you know that the term "filibuster" has pirate origins? It must be true - I read it here . 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! Murder at the Marina - a lighthearted & humorous cozy sailing mystery - available in ebook and paperback format at: Amazon (US) | Amazon (CA) | Amazon (UK) | Amazon (AU) | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Apple iBooks | Google Play | Book Depository | Books-A-Million Find out more at ellenjacobsonauthor.com  

  Do you ever wonder what life will be like 100 years from now? Or do you want to know more about what happened 100 years ago? If someone offered you a ride in their time machine, would you go forward or back in time? These are the types of questions I ask myself over my morning coffee. I also ask myself why anyone would have a peanut butter sandwich without jam. Then my mind works its way back to wondering what life will be like in the future and, on this particular morning, what sailing will be like. People have used the wind to power their boats since the dawn of time. Sure technology has played a role in modern sailing, but the basic principle is the same - take a piece of fabric, hold it up, and let the wind push it. It's kind of neat to think that at its core sailing probably won't change that much over time, but the experience of sailing might. Will there be more people out on the water, either voluntarily embracing a nomadic lifestyle or because they were forced to aban...

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 three sailing-related books focusing on quitting the rat race for a simpler existence living aboard a boat. Even if a sailing and cruising lifestyle isn't for you, you may find inspiration in these books to make changes in your own life and lead a life less "normal" and more fulfilling. LEAP OF FAITH: QUIT YOUR JOB AND LIVE ON A BOAT by Ed Robinson The author describes himself and his wife as carefree boat bums and beachcombers and in this book he tells you how they went about achieving a simpler life. He walks the reader thr...

See that list above? It's from a list of "Stores and Outfits for a First-Class Whale Ship, For a Cape Horn Voyage." {You can see the full list here .} My mom is really into genealogy and does a lot of research on our seafaring ancestors who hailed from New England and made their living on whaling ships. So, from time-to-time, she sends me little tidbits about what life might have been like for them. I love food. I love thinking about food. I love daydreaming about food. And I really love eating food. So this particular tidbit about the food provisions they would carry was right up my alley. My great great grandmother gave birth on a whaling ship in the Marquesas Islands . Her husband was the captain, and one of the perks of being the captain is that you got to take your wife on long voyages with you. I'm not entirely convinced that that would have been a perk for the wives. Years onboard a boat as the only woman, hoping you wouldn't be attacked by sea monsters and...

As part of my ongoing efforts to learn Spanish, I'm highlighting a Spanish word each day as part of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. I'm also sharing the random thoughts that pop into my head when I try to pronounce them. * * * Today's Spanish word is >>timonel<< (helmsman). And now for some random thoughts. 1 - The helmsman is the person who is steering the boat. A pretty important job, cause crashing your boat into another boat or a reef, rocks, the shore, a shipping container etc. would kind of spoil the day big time. 2 - Machines can steer your boat too. We have autohelm steering which does the work for us. Yes, the robots are taking over the world, but in some ways, won't life be so much easier? 3 - Some robots are good (like Rosie the Robot Maid on the Jetsons), others not so good. Have you ever helmed a boat? Do you worry about robots taking over? What's your favorite word that starts with "T"? Thanks for stopping by our blog - we lov...

As part of my ongoing efforts to learn Spanish, I'm highlighting a Spanish word each day as part of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. I'm also sharing the random thoughts that pop into my head when I try to pronounce them. * * * Today's Spanish word is >>soga<< (line) . And now for some random thoughts: 1 - What a "normal" person might call a rope, a sailor calls a "line." There's a saying that the only rope on a boat is the one attached to the ship's bell. 2 - Sailors like to speak in a secret language, which can sometimes be confusing to landlubbers. I call it Nauticalese. 3 - I'm not very good at throwing or catching lines. More often than not, they end up in the water. Are you good at throwing things? What's your favorite word that starts with "S"? Thanks for stopping by our blog - we love it when people come visit! We're also on Facebook - pop by and say hi!  Check out the other folks participating in the...

In my ongoing efforts to learn Spanish, I'm highlighting a different Spanish word each day as part of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. I'm also sharing the random thoughts that pop into my head when I try to pronounce them. * * * Today's Spanish word is >>rizos<< (reefs). And now for some random thoughts: 1 - In certain conditions, you need to reef your sails, which involves reducing the amount of sail you have out so that you're not overpowered. For our mainsail, we use reefing lines to fold the sail down on the boom. 2 - >>Rizos<< can also mean curls, which makes sense as when your sail is reefed, it's curled up in a way. 3 - When it's humid out, my hair gets curly. When it's super humid out, I get little ringlets. If you're not sure what the weather is like outside, just have a look at my head. Do you have straight or curly hair? What's your favorite word that starts with "R"? Thanks for stopping by our blog...