Starting the New Year Off Right

After a two week plus hiatus, during which I ate too much, talked too much and probably imbibed too much, I'm back in the mode of writing about sailing. There are several things driving our activities through the winter.


First, I am finishing up the first draft of my first novel and it's based in sailing.  A murder mystery to be exact, but with a twist. Intrigued?  I hope so. I'm on the last stretch of finishing up and then the hard work of editing begins. It's lucky the weather has been so lousy. It's kept me indoors and hard at work.

Ah, but the outdoor projects have been on hold. Specifically all the work we have to do on Aleria. We haven't had a day good enough to travel up to work on her. And time is marching on.

So instead I wrote a magazine article on cruising the west of Ireland for Yachting World and a log entry on cruising the west of Ireland for CA, but couldn't find a way to submit it. Harrumph!  Our book Cruising the Wild Atlantic Way is doing reasonably well for the pricing, which is governed by the number of full colour images (400). And we've had really good reviews from Cruising Club of America, Ocean Cruising Club and Seven Seas Cruising Association among others. Yippee!

Next, we are looking at updating our anchoring book. There have been a few developments in gear since the last edition and a few added techniques to add, nothing drastic...more of a slight evolution. And of course we'll have to write articles about the updates.

And we have two talks coming up, one in Ireland and one in London, for which I have to create PowerPoint decks, and the OCC Awards, for which I have to review and vote and create a PowerPoint deck and press release and web pages for the OCC website. I am the PR Officer and the webmaster for the OCC. It's getting a bit much. My brain is scattering.

Amidst all this are health problems in the family and among friends.

Amidst all this are plans for potentially sailing off to Norway this summer.

Amidst all is is wishing we could sail away for an extended period. Not this year. This year I'll do it in my books.  At least I know what it's like so I can write about it.

David Bowie died this morning aged 69.  I used to think I'd die young. Now I want to live longer. There's just so much left to do. My sister left this world at 57.  I hope she meets David Bowie. They were both out there in different ways. Good influence. Both very smart. Neither boring. Bye David.

PS Just listened to Black Star and Lazarus. Brilliant. Everything I experienced with my sister and my mother. He sang his heart out, literally. RIP.