We’re tearing the inside of our boat apart. The two cabins are badly designed. Currently there is a three-quarter double bed and a three-quarter single bed.
At the very least we can rearrange the walls for a big (walk-around) double and a grand single or, I am hoping, another double.
This morning there is stuff everywhere, we have to live in half the boat now. Eighteen-and-a-half metres divided by two isn’t very much! It’s not so much the smaller space, but we’ve had to cram 18.5 metres of ‘stuff’ into the other half!
Wrecking the place!
Now we are sleeping and eating in the lounge (not at the same time), luckily the galley is a good size. The wheelhouse is the store room.
We’ve done this before on other boats and in houses, and instead of getting stressed and worrisome about moving everything around and living in a work-space, I am enjoying it.
Two cabins and lots of thinking!
We won’t always have our health and if we do, time will catch up with us eventually… we won’t always be able to do this.
So, we laugh when the mattress becomes a live animal and refuses to be folded in half to go out the hatch.
We giggle when we walk around in circles, picking up ‘stuff’ and putting it back where it came from.
We snort with mirth, when I moved one set of shelves into another room that Noel was trying to empty.
The corridor, part of which will become the main cabin (with ensuite of course!)
This is fun – these are happy days – these are days to enjoy. They make me smile.
It’s a busy time of year, but I have to share this giveaway with you.
I’ve teamed up with The Kindle Book Review, Digital Book Today and some amazing authors to sponsor a Black Friday Giveaway.
Join me and you can win a $400 Amazon Shopping Spree! … a $400 Amazon Gift Card. Just click here or the pictures below to enter. It’s easy, fun, and the prize is awesome!
My husband worked in a brothel in Barbados. It was just for a few weeks. He was eventually asked to leave. The threats and the rather large, naked ladies that were hosed down daily, convinced him that it really was time to leave.
The ‘body-guards’ in the brothel in Barbados
This bizarre story goes hand-in-hand with almost nine years of my life on the high seas on a ten metre boat. We had close-calls with pirates, muggers, and man-eating crocodiles, which was enough to keep the adrenaline buzzing. Boat crashes, storms, almost sinking and a whale collision filled the gaps, if ever we became complacent.
The storm – you HAD to just get on with it!
A near ‘agreed’ abduction by a beautiful French Gigolo, who lifted me up from the road after I was run-over in France, didn’t alter the incredible bond between my new husband and I – a bond that I’ve only witnessed in movies. But, I still carried the mixed emotions of losing one man, while falling head over heels with another.
But, I have learned to live my life, and I have finally figured out who I am.
Picking our way through reefs to the anchorage in Mayaguana
“Did you know, the average women walks three miles a per day more than the average man?” I said to Noel.
“Walks or talks,” says Noel!
Aside from my humorous husband, I’d like to make today, Little Toe Day.’
Those little, wiggly, appendages on the edge of our feet need some recognition.
The little toe on your foot has many names. It is known as the little toe, baby toe, pinky toe, and the fifth toe. But its real name is Digitus minimus pedis. I refer to mine as Pinkies.
Image courtesy of artur84 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
We are bare-footed a lot, especially when sailing and cruising. Our little toes have taken some severe bashings over the years…. rigging, stanchions, anything solid really.
Basically they are strong little critters and very tolerant – so let’s say a big ‘Yay’ for our little toes and learn a bit more about them:
Interesting facts
Toes can be used to replace fingers
Stalin’s were webbed
You can wrestle with them (and there you were wondering what you were going to do tonight!)
When walking, each time your heel lifts off the ground it forces the toes to carry one half of your body weight
Butterflies taste with their feet (imagine doing that!)
Gannets incubate eggs under their webbed feet
Elephants use their feet to hear – they pick up vibrations of the earth through their soles
The average foot gets two sizes longer when a person stands up
Mmmmm yummy flower! Image courtesy of dan at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
I talk about shoes and ‘spreading’ feet in Cruisers’ AA (accumulated acumen). Over the years of being bare-footed on our boats, my feet spread and changed size.
I’ve had a lot of writing/publishing help and advice over the years (thanks Rachel Amphlett). Recently I’ve been asked to provide a copy of some notes that I scribbled. They are a brief detail of my process, as an Indie Author.
Coupled with reading a disheartening quote this week, ‘The book market is awash now anyone can publish, and most of those are misses…’ (Well, it went something like that). I am compelled to write this blog about what I love doing.
It maybe so, that many books are misses, and some authors may not put the time, effort, money, love and soul into their book – but I can’t imagine why you’d write something and not give it your all. Many authors lose a little of themselves in each book. Writing and publishing a book is not for wimps!
I am often up at all hours, thinking, writing, marketing…
I also read another quote, which went along the lines of, ‘When you view an artist’s work, you are not just viewing a picture you are viewing their life, their dreams, their soul.’ It is the same for author’s, in fact, anyone creative.
I have so many ideas, voices, characters, and stories in my head, it is a relief to get them out! So, for me, the ‘writing’ part is relatively easy… compared with what follows.
Months and months of editing
Months and months of reading
Months and months of researching
Asking friends to be my Beta readers to help with the next level
Re-writing their comments where necessary
Employing a good editor and taking their comments on board
Re-writing where necessary
Reading again
Checking again
Reading again
Checking again
Don’t let any of these short bullet points fool you – it is hard work, it is a slog, it’s a marathon.
Add to this:
Marketing
Marketing
Marketing
And then some more
And then:
Working with a printing & distributing company to reach that marvellous, unbelievable day when you hold your very own book. (Then, you read it, check it, make amendments and ensure it is perfect!)
Then, the real marketing starts!….
I make time to write anywhere/anytime!
Launching
At last, you are ready to launch and my goodness you’d better be brave; the time has come to put YOU on show. While terrifically exciting, it is extremely terrifying too.
But to get back to my point; Authors work hard, they help each other, they support, they learn they share. What you pay for a book is significantly minuscule compared to the blood, sweat, tears and time that has been poured into those pages (literally!).
Your choice as a reader is incredible. But if a book doesn’t ‘fit’ you, it doesn’t mean that it isn’t loved by someone else – even if it is ‘just’ the author…
Van Morrison sang about it and I could relate to those words today.
“When you don’t need an answer there’ll be days like this When you don’t meet a chancer there’ll be days like this When all the parts of the puzzle start to look like they fit Then I must remember there’ll be days like this”
Noel and I have been quite anti-social lately, what with trying to get the outside of Rouge Corsair painted prior to winter setting in.
So, a shopping day with our friends, Kim and Lorna from MV Sunflower, was just what we needed to re-connect with civilisation again.
Aiguillon is a little over seven kilometres away. So, after a shaky start, (bike tyres….grrrr), we set off on four bikes of differing vintage, wrapped in hats and scarves, blowing fogging breaths.
On arrival, to get our bearings we sipped a delicious coffee watching the French-way unfold around us. The barman serving wine at 10 am with a cigarette in his hand. The impassioned shouting was just part of everyday conversation, and welcoming smiles.
Smart shopping
Noel and I had several items to find, which of course, meant the hardware. But, this time was different. I’ve never had so much fun in a hardware shop.
The ‘hooks’
We needed some L-shaped doohdads. Basically, metal hooks to hold up timber rods. Our curtains are going to tuck into these rods, at the bottom.
We could buy four in a packet for 5.55 (Euros) per packet. As we needed twenty-four we started to think of other solutions.
With Kim, Noel and I, scratching our heads, things started to improve. We found a packet with more hooks in them. They were a different metal, but useable, for 3.55 Euros. But then we spotted the pick ‘n’ mix.
The items were in baskets, loose, individual. I found a guy to help, as there were no visible prices, and he explained. There were three sized bags and each bag had its own price – the smallest bag was 2.55 Euros. We could put anything we liked in the bag, as long as it seals, all contents would be 2.55.
At this point we all grinned, rubbed our hands together, and said, ‘They have no idea what we are capable of!’
“As long as the bag shuts – it will cost 2.55 (Euros)”
We packed the bag with enough hooks and spares, to do several boats.
What was going to cost us around 35 Euros, ended up costing 2.55 Euros! (Plus extras!)
Rewards
With fresh baguettes, ham and cheese we lunched in the town square. The smoking cafe owner offered us a table and chairs; everyone who passed-by smiled, ‘Bon Appetite.’
Loaded up! Great fun!
With a cheap supermarket, a charity shop and a hardware, all visited (some twice!) with loaded bikes, and big grins we cycled back to our boats. The cooling afternoon and falling winter leaves accompanied us home. The sweet smell from the apple orchards and the sounds of humming tractors was carried along the breeze to round off a perfect day.
When it’s not always raining there’ll be days like this
When there’s no one complaining there’ll be days like this
When everything falls into place like the flick of a switch
Well my mama told me there’ll be days like this
When you don’t need to worry there’ll be days like this
When no one’s in a hurry there’ll be days like this
When you don’t get betrayed by that old Judas kiss
Oh my mama told me there’ll be days like thisWhen you don’t need an answer there’ll be days like this
When you don’t meet a chancer there’ll be days like this
When all the parts of the puzzle start to look like they f it
Then I must remember there’ll be days like thisWhen everyone is up front and they’re not playing tricks
When you don’t have no freeloaders out to get their kicks
When it’s nobody’s business the way that you want to live
I just have to remember there’ll be days like thisWhen no one steps on my dreams there’ll be days like this
When people understand what I mean there’ll be days like this
When you ring out the changes of how everything is
Well my mama told me there’ll be days like this
Oh my mama told me
There’ll be days like this
Oh my mama told me
There’ll be days like this
Oh my mama told me
There’ll be days like this
Oh my mama told me
There’ll be days like this
It’s funny when a harmless comment someone makes keeps you awake all night – but more importantly it makes you think.
Let me briefly explain, I’ve embarked on a Cover Wars competition, where my book cover is alongside four other covers and people (hopefully) vote.
I received a message last night saying, “I don’t usually like this sort of voting,” she also said, “I voted as I believe in your work, your journey and your story, usually I feel compelled to vote for a friend rather than on the strength of their work.”
And she is so very right. And, this really made me think.
I am often up at all hours, thinking, writing, marketing…
Today when I posted a reminder to vote (as requested by the FB page admin), I explained WHY I was doing this. I receive help with marketing if my cover wins. Let me tell you, marketing on your own, when you really have no-clue, is tough, very tough.
But, immediately, I received thank-you messages and lovely emails saying that, now, it all makes more sense.
The problem I have is that, I KNOW in my mind what is happening and I merrily assume everyone else does! (Just ask my husband!)
So, to explain. I’m not egotistical by nature, but the truth is, for a day or two I did become a little narcissistic! However, with this comment and a bit of thought (at 2 am!) – I realised I am quite happy if you don’t want to vote or if you click on the link and prefer another cover – fair dos and all that. The other Authors have worked just as hard!
But what I am, is an author that is alone. I write, I edit, I publish and I market. I have lovely support from friends and family (and a paid editor) but what I don’t have is a team of publishers and marketers…. it is all little ole’ me.
In beautiful locations the work doesn’t stop!
I do this ‘stuff’ to help let people know that there is a book out there they may want to read. I am never going to be rich doing this – but maybe I can give someone a little enjoyment and perhaps cover my costs one day.
‘…I haven’t slept more than 6 hours in two days! I loved both [her] books. Informative, funny, intelligent writing by a talented lady.’
‘You won’t be able to put it down.’ (Image courtesy of Phaitoon at FreeDigitalPhotos.net)
And, the reviews continue…
‘As always, she writes with honesty and humour to engage sailors and non sailors alike.’
‘A wonderful read. Jackie’s writing style exudes energy and joie de vivre.’
‘I got it this morning and I can’t put it down.. .’
Be Warned! You may lose yourself in the pages…. (Image courtesy of Ambro at FreeDigitalPhotos.net)
These readers are reading about:
My husband working in a brothel in Barbados
Nine years on a ten metre boat
Pirates
Muggers
Man-eating crocodiles
Boat crashes
Storms
Sinking
Whale collision
French Gigolos
An impossible love
Mending a broken heart…
…and so much more….
Playing with sealions
Rescued from man-eating crocs!
For about the price of a decent cup of coffee you can lose yourself in my world – where I stepped into a fairy-tale relationship with one man, while grieving for another….. More details HERE….and…
Don’t forget to write – let me know what you think….
Jackie Parry - author 