Short jacket and white trousers this young girl she put on
And like a gallant seaman bold went roving through the town.
She did sign on with our Captain Blare a sailor for to be
And it was to seek her own true love all on the raging sea…

Ballads and stories about girls who dressed as boys and went to sea are part of our maritime culture, and are based on fact.  Hannah Snell, Mary Anne Talbot, Mary Lacy, and Jeanne Baret, are some of the more well-known 18th century women who were successful in their shipboard masquerades.  We’ll never know how many women actually chose this way of life because we only hear about those who were found out — usually due to injury or punishment in the line of duty!

How many women during the age of sail do I think dressed as boys or men and went to sea? (Or, as in the case of Mary Lacey, became a shipwright, “to whom the Government granted a superannuated pension of twenty pounds per annum, during her life.”)  Perhaps not a very great number — but I’ll bet there were quite a few more than have been noted in the official records.

As Samuel Johnson said, “Being in a ship is being in prison, with the chance of being drowned.”  So, why on earth would a woman put herself in such an uncomfortable and potentially dangerous situation?  For love?  Perhaps, but methinks more joined up for the the steady paycheck (though in a-rears), the lodging, the hammock, the three square meals and the chance for prize the navy offered.  Though a sailor’s life was hard and dangerous, so were the workhouses, the prisons and the waterfronts where the girls who had resorted to prostitution plied their trade.   If a young maid was in search of love, it was probably because her missing beau had been pressed into service and she had not heard from him, nor had she received any support from him!

Another reason may have been for the adventure and opportunity a ship offers.  I fell for that one myself…  But then, I confess, I have an ongoing shipboard romance with a sailor named Bob, who happens to be my husband.  And come to think of it, Bob is the one who introduced me to sailing.  But that’s another story!

  I thank Gavin Atkin for including this ballad sung by A.J.Lloyd on his blog, where I discovered it.

Barbados Bound

 Author’s preface

 Barbados Bound was first published by Alfred A. Knopf as Star-Crossed.  I wrote it as adult historical fiction, to explore what it might have been like to have been a young woman down on her luck, aboard an 18^th century ship.  Not as a passenger — but as part of the crew.

My curiosity had been piqued after my husband and I spent three weeks as voyage crewmembers aboard HM Bark Endeavour, a working replica of Captain Cook’s renowned ship of exploration.   As crew, we were taught everything we needed to know about sailing the ship by our superior officers.  Our duties included standing our rotating, four-hour watches, during which we climbed aloft to make or reduce sail, kept a look-out for other vessels, and took our turns at the helm.  When not on watch we were assigned cleaning and maintenance duties, and at night strung our hammocks from the deckhead, just as British seamen did for centuries.  Although Endeavour was equipped with a few modern conveniences Cook didn’t have, she was a time machine for my imagination.   While standing watch, or at the helm, I found myself thinking that if I could perform these tasks alongside my mates (perhaps a quarter of whom were women like me) then surely there was truth to the stories about women dressing as men and working aboard ships during the age of sail.

During the three weeks I was an 18^th century sailor, we sailed Endeavour across the northern Pacific Ocean, from Vancouver to Hawaii.  When I disembarked in Kona, I carried with me the seeds for a story — though there was years of research to be done while writing it.  The story I wanted to write was not about the Endeavour or Captain Cook, but it would take place on a vessel similar to the Endeavour.

Orion Rising was the working title for this story, written from the view point of a young woman who stows herself away in order to get to Barbados.  It was published as Star-Crossed by Alfred A. Knopf in 2006, and marketed as a young adult novel.  Although I didn’t write it for a teenaged market, I was honored when the New York Public Library chose it to be among the Books for the Teen Age – 2007.

Star-Crossed went out of print in 2011.   Fireship Press has republished it as adult historical fiction — the first novel in the Patricia MacPherson Nautical Adventure Series.

I have taken this opportunity  to correct a few minor historical inaccuracies – and to make a few other revisions, as authors are wont to do.  I have also put back in some of the original wording that was changed for a young adult readership.  Finally, I have retitled it because I always felt the title Star-Crossed (Knopf’s choice) was more indicative of a romance novel rather than a historical adventure story.  Although the working title was Orion rising, I feel Barbados Bound better reflects the spirit of the story.

I am very grateful to Tom Grunder, the founder of Fireship Press, who wanted to publish Barbados Bound as the first book in a series about a woman who goes to sea in the age of sail, and who published Surgeon’s Mate; book two of the Patricia MacPherson Nautical Adventure Series in 2011.  Tom didn’t live to see Barbados Bound  under the Fireship label, but I am greatly indebted to him.  I appreciate the support and editorial guidance he gave me while he was alive.

by J. Dennis Robinson

“To this day, we don’t really know who won the War of 1812.  According to Jamie Trost, a naval history enthusiast who has captained Lynx in both Pacific and Atlantic waters, there are three answers.  Trost says:

The British perspective is:  What war?  They barely acknowledge it happened.  The Canadian perspective is:  America attacked, Canada defended, and America retreated no less than 13 times.  The American perspective is: We don’t remember much about that war, but we’re damn sure that we won it.”

– from America’s Privateer; Lynx and the War of 1812 by J. Dennis Robinson

That’s the average American for you! (Like Sweet Baby James used to sing, Don’t know much about history, don’t know much biology…)  I don’t pretend to be a historian either, but I damn sure am working on it!

I was born in Baltimore where everybody knows at least one thing about the largely forgotten War of 1812 –  that Francis Scott Key wrote a poem while detained on a British ship during the bombardment of Fort McHenry; a poem that would be printed in newspapers, sung to the tune of an English drinking song and voted our National Anthem more than a hundred years later, in 1931.  I admit to becoming emotionally labile whenever I hear The Star-Spangled Banner sung at the beginning of a baseball game or at the Superbowl half-time show, I’ve been known to tear up.  (Another song I learned growing up in Maryland was The Battle of New Orleans:  In 1814 we took a little trip, along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississip’We took a little bacon and we took a little beans and fought the bloody British in the town of New Orleans…  Again, the words of this song suggests that the rednecks not the redcoats won the battle, if not the war!)

This year, 2012, we commemorate the bicentennial of the War of 1812, a war fought for free trade and sailors’ rights, a war fought in part, by letters-of-marque and privateers.  For those of us who love ships and are interested in maritime tradition, the commemoration of this war will be a chance to rediscover history.

Having been aboard the schooner Lynx a few years ago, I was eager to buy this book when it came out.  Though the modern Lynx is not exactly a replica ship, nor is she a privateer, she is none-the-less an active “tall ship” (I dislike that dumbed-down term, but find myself using it!) that promotes traditional sailing and America’s maritime heritage in the 21st century.  On a day sail out of Kawaihae Harbor Bob and I helped raise sail, we listened to several crew members in period dress tell us about their duties and we witnessed a firing of one of the six-pounder carronades by a handy female gunner.

Aboard the Lynx, along the North Kohala Coast

America’s Privateer is a book about the “forgotten war” and the privateers who assisted America’s  fledgling navy.   It’s the story of the original Lynx, a licensed letter of marque “created to carry cargo swiftly under wartime conditions, and if need be, to run an enemy blockade or capture a ready prize” – and today’s Lynx,  inspired by and similar to the original –  custom-designed by legendary Melbourne Smith,  designer and builder of historical ships including the US Brig Niagra, Californian, builder of the Pride of Baltimore, designer of the Spirit of Massachusetts and Maryland Federalist, and a consultant for HM Bark Endeavour,

Today’s Lynx is the result of one wealthy adventurer’s dream, a man to whom history matters.  As any boat owner knows, boats are expensive to maintain, they are labors of love.  (I, for one, am glad Mr. Woods put his money into a sailing, living history museum rather than a racing yacht or a football team.)  The book, published by The Lynx Educational Foundation, tells the story of both Lynxes, why the war of 1812 matters and how today’s Lynx teaches maritime history and heritage.

Robinson says, “Today’s privateer Lynx is not on a mission to prove that America won the “Forgotten War,” but rather to remind us why we fight for liberty in the first place.  It is precisely because the War of 1812 is unfamiliar to all but a few naval history buffs, that it is the ideal backdrop for a fresh conversation about the very meaning of freedom.  Lynx is on a mission, we might say, to incite America to discussion.  The enemy this time is not the British, but our own complacency and forgetfulness…

Current attacks at sea bear a haunting similarity to those of the early 19^th century.  Private security companies are at this moment trying to re-establish the “letter of marque” system that would allow privateers to take on 21^st century pirates in Somalia and elsewhere” (pg. 148).

Will privateers make a come-back?  Should they?  Is it even possible in today’s world?  I don’t know, but America’s Privateer is a book to read and ponder and if you get the chance to sail aboard her, don’t pass it up.

A seaman pressed into service aboard the Lynx

Taking a break from all my reading about the lives of the women at sea during the age of sail, it’s like a breath of fresh air to return to the 21st century where young women can be found alow, aloft, at the navigation station and at the helm of ships everywhere — and aboard one American tall ship in particular.

The schooner Unicorn, owned by Dawn and her husband Jay Santamaria, is the only all-female crewed tall ship in the world.  Together with their four daughters — Brynn, Chelsea, Courtney and Samantha — the Santamarias promote traditional tall ship sail training and the preservation of maritime history through executive training programs, festivals and community youth involvement programs.

In 2005 Dawn founded Sisters Under Sail, a non-profit organization whose purpose is to build confedence, enhance self-esteem, develop social conscience and teach the value of working together through sail training.  Aboard the 118-ft. topsail schooner Unicorn, plying New England and Great Lakes waters, the young women learn to work together to sail a traditional ship and have the adventure of a lifetime, I’m certain!  As  founder and executive director of Sisters Under Sail,  Dawn was awarded the 2011 Leadership in Women’s Sailing Award at the USA’s 10th Women’s Sailing Conference last summer. The award is sponsored by BoatUS and the National Women’s Sailing Association  — see article.

Santamaria’s unique sailing program has put aboard nearly 200 women and 400 teenage girls; nearly half of the teens were able to take part through the generosity of sponsors. To find out how to sponsor a teen in 2012 check out SistersUnderSail.org

To read about the Sisters at the 2010 Tall Ships Chicago festival see Rick Spillan’s  Old Salt Blog’s post

This year teenaged daughters  of  deployed U.S. Military service members are invited to sail aboard Unicorn to honor their parents as part of the  bicentennial commemoration of the War of 1812.   See The Fyddye Guides Fri. Jul 1, 2011.

“This ain’t no cruise sister, it’s the adventure of a lifetime!”

Oh, to be young again…

New Year’s Eve, 2009.

“…I was just starting to think the wind was dying down and I was sitting at the nav table feeling calm and smug that we’d ridden it out so beautifully when out of nowhere we took a really big wave.  Water poured in from the vent right above me (which was closed), and I was covered in ice-cold water.  The nav table isn’t a great place to dump a whole lot of water, but after a few shrieks I checked it all out and everything was okay.  The wind picked up and was sitting between 36 and 44 knots as the waves started to build again…Finally the wind calmed right down to more like 20 to 25 knots, and after what felt like a few very long days I was pretty exhausted.  I managed about three hours’ sleep over twenty-four hours, and knew I had to watch myself.  I made a list of things to do…”   (Jessica Watson, from her first book)

It’s New Year’s Eve 2011 and I’m reading True Spirit by Jessica Watson, the memoir of the 16-year-old sailor who recently circumnavigated solo in Ella’s Pink Lady, a Sparkman and Stephens 34 sloop.  (Take a virtual YouTube tour of Ella’s Pink Lady)  I am decidedly “on board” with her in spirit as she tweaks sails, charts her position, chats with mum and dad on the radio, bakes chocolate cupcakes, sings karaoke with the dolphins for an audience, reluctantly does her school assignments, makes repairs underway, tackles big swells, is occasionally becalmed and was once, at the beginning, run over by a freighter!

In reading her narrative Jessica’s single-mindedness and determination is very apparent.  Ah, immortal, resilient youth!  As a sailor I can relate to her experiences, some of which remind me of my adventures with Bob on Topaz.  …”Life on board is really pretty simple with all the little things filling up the day, but when the sea is up, even the simplest task becomes an adventure,” says Jessica, (reminding me of my own attempts to make pancakes while Bob had the helm, beating into a large Pacific sea, somewhere southeast of Hawaii…)

Jessica was inspired by the adventures of young people who circumnavigated before and wrote of their adventures in books of their own.  (And aren’t we all inspired by books?)

…”After all the usual chores, I spent the morning catching up on a few emails and reading.  I’ve been rereading Kay Cottee’s book about her nonstop trip around the world and of course Jesse Martin’s Lionheart.  I love comparing my trip so far with their voyages…Over the years I’d read and reread these two books contantly, and as my own voyage slowly came together I began to understand many of the things that Jesse and Kay wrote about in a whole new way…”

Sailors today have more gadgets at their disposal, to help them navigate, communicate, and to assist in rescue.  Still, when you are sailing a boat you are essentially alone.  Knowing where you are is a good thing but you still need to get to where you want to go, and safely.

….”The only thing that had the ultimate power in my new world was the weather.  I was a slave to that, and though it was something I struggled with at times, ultimately it was why I was there.  I wanted to be pushed to the limit and have to find the strength and the knowledge within myself to get through the bad times.  If it was all smooth sailing, I wouldn’t be doing that.”

This pretty much sums up why she is doing it.  And who can deny  that challenge is what makes life worth living?  It is how we mature, by taking on challenges.  We are at our best when challenged.

“… All right, I’m going to sign off because I’m off to do something brave, daring, and possibly a little reckless.  I’m going to open the bag labeled “Schoolwork.”  Okay, so maybe I’m being a bit of a drama queen, but wish me luck on this one!”

Ah, she is a teenager, a very human being after all…

See Jessica’s homecoming on YouTube.

I’m still reading Watson’s True Spirit, on boat time (slow time), I’m in no particular hurry to finish it.  For me, that is the mark of a good book.  If I skim it, I’m not in love with it, it’s a one night stand.  My favorite books remain on my night stand for months on end.  But Jessica, who is now 18 years old, isn’t resting on her laurels.

UPDATE

December 30, 2011:   Skipper Jessica Watson’s team of young sailors – the youngest crew ever to compete in the famed Sydney-Hobart race — finished second in their class, the Sydney 38 division, aboard Ella Bache.  I’m delighted that the teen circumnavigator has not retired from the sea after her accomplishment, but has found a new dimension for her drive and competitive spirit.  Read about it on this link

On the last night of 2011 my thoughts and dreams are with the youth, for they are the future.

This sixteen-year-old circumnavigator is no stranger to boats and large bodies of water; Laura was born on a boat in the port of Whangarei, New Zealand, during a seven-year sojourn by her European parents (who later divorced.)  By the time she was six years old Laura was making solo passages in a dinghy across the lake.  At  thirteen, she made her first major solo voyage from the harbor of Maurik in the Netherlands making landfall in Lowestoft, England (where the authorities contacted her father to come accompany her on the return voyage.)

Dekker’s plan to circumnavigate solo when she was fourteen received extensive international attention and Dutch authorities intervened, prohibiting her from doing so, but Laura was not to be so easily dissuaded.  She hopped a plane for the Caribbean.

When the Dutch court ended supervision of Dekker in July, 2010, announcing it was “up to the girl’s parents to decide whether she can make the trip,”Dekker reported that she would depart “within two weeks.”  She later commented about the authorities in an interview, saying “They thought it was dangerous. Well, everywhere is dangerous. They don’t sail and they don’t know what boats are, and they are scared of them.” ^Wikipedia

Laura’s Christmas Eve blog:

24-12-2011

“At dawn today the sunlight promised a cloudless day. I should have touched wood because Guppy is now surrounded by curtains of rain and dark clouds again… But I can spend hours just watching the sky and its fascinating creations. Today it was dark and threatening clouds next to white clouds and grey clouds with some scattered spots of blue sky here and there… which in the evening created an amazing sunset made of beautiful sunlight rays. Yesterday the clouds gathered in an arch that reached down to the sea far on the horizon and when the sun came down floating in the water it turned the arch into a barrel vault of lights, which was just wonderful to see… But now the waves have taken some very annoying patterns as the wind shifted, making for cross seas making us wallow heavily at times. Even though the sea may be calm for half an hour or so, it would be a mistake to leave things lying around thoughtlessly otherwise… Woosh! Oh yes, another mega-wave comes and then you better duck because here comes the frying pan flying at you in a murder attempt … or alternately it bring a rice pack to fall out of a locker to kiss the floor… You get three guesses to figure how I spent the rest of the day today ”

Laura

Here is Laura’s approximate position on Christmas Eve, 2011.  (From her official blog)  She is bound for Saint Martin in the Caribbean (see Rick Spillman’s Old Salt Blog)

Merry Christmas and Godspeed, Laura!

“On board Old Ironsides, it suddenly occurred to Lieutenant Parker that thus far this battle had not been, and was not going to be, a mere pounding match.  It was more a complex combination of skillful maneuver and artillery duel.  He realized the two ships were much like fencers or boxers, with a succession of evolutions which resembled those kinds of changes of position – parries, lunges, ripostes, retreats, and advances – all accompanied by a continual play of the great guns, answering to the thrusts and blows of each individual movement…”

–  from The Perfect Wreck –Old Ironsides and HMS Java: A Story of 1812.

The Perfect Wreck is the first book dedicated to the events leading up to the fateful encounter between the U.S.S. Constitution, one of the first of America’s frigates, and H.M.S. Java of the Royal Navy, with the battle itself the climax of the story.

Author Steven E. Maffeo is the associate library director at the U.S. Air Force Academy, a retired Navy Captain and a visiting history lecturer and tour guide instructor for the U.S.S. Constitution.  Oh, and let’s not forget a credential that is even more valuable, which is his passion for history; especially the age of sail.     

In reading this realistic account I feel as if I’m a fly on the wall (or a weevil in the biscuit), seeing and hearing what went on aboard these two vessels. Maffeo explores the edges of nonfiction without falling into the sea of make-believe.   This form of narrative is sometimes called creative nonfiction, which according to Lee Gutkind, founding editor of the journal Creative Nonfiction, is “reportage in a scenic, dramatic fashion”  (author’s afterword).  True to the form, Maffeo finds the inherent structure to the story, linking what is known with what is probable.  The commands given by the officers, the lists of provisions, the weather and sea state, the casualties and damage to the ships are all authentic and brought to life on the page.

As Steve says in his afterword, “I’ve tried extremely hard to deliver to you solid historical truth, but at the same time bring the era to life and pull you into its time and place.”

Aye, Capt. Maffeo, that you have!  My own sense of maritime history has been enhanced by reading this, and I hope my own writing will be enriched by having experienced it.  (If you’ve read either of my historical novels you’ll know I don’t actually write historic naval fiction but am definitely having an affair with it!)

Steve Maffeo and I are shipmates aboard Fireship Press, a small publisher founded by the late Tom Grundner, who was also an author and aficionado of historic naval fiction.  I have had the pleasure recently, of corresponding with Steve who is eager to share his passion for naval history.

Steve Maffeo and son, Micah

“Steve, I know you’re a retired naval captain but what piqued your interest in the age-of-sail?  Was it all while you were serving in the navy?”

Steve: “It might seem funny, for a kid born and raised in Denver, but it seems I’ve always been interested in ships, and even more so the age-of-sail.   Can’t remember when I wasn’t!   There may have been other factors, but I think seeing the Trevor Howard/Marlon Brando “Mutiny on the Bounty” in ’63 (I was 9) was significant, and my mom bought me a beautiful edition of “Captain Horatio Hornblower” when I was in the 4th grade – with the great NC Wyeth book jacket.  I’ve also always been interested in the historical period of, roughly, the French and Indian Wars thru the Napoleonic Wars with all the cultural, political, and military aspects of that period, so it becomes a larger “package,” as it were.”  

“I loved all the details you wove into the account and the respect you obviously have for the officers and men of all the ships  on both sides of the war.  I imagine this authenticity stems from your 30 years in the navy – and your familiarity with Old Ironsides.  On your website you mention having access to some rare sources of information and inspiration.  Care to elaborate?”

Steve: “Well, there were those three evenings when I sat in the captain’s cabin and worked on the manuscript….and was the only soul on board the entire ship as the watchkeepers were pierside…that was truly memorable.    I have been allowed to climb both fore and mizzen masts with the crew on two different occasions; quite the experience, even at pierside. 

“Oh, you’re killing me here!   To be able to have that ship all to yourself, just you and the ghosts of Commodore Bainbridge and his crew, what an enviable experience!”

(Click here for a mini-YouTube tour of the captain’s cabin where the author worked on the manuscript.)

 Steve:  “Another Age-of-Sail snapshot is when my wife Rhonda and I were at a Patrick O’Brian Symposium at the Royal Naval Museum in Portsmouth, just two weeks after 9/11.   One night the group had dinner at tables on the lower gundeck of the Victory, and at one point I was apparently staring vacantly around in rapture at just being there; the noted British marine artist Geoff Hunt, sitting across from me, became concerned to ensure that I was OK – and of course I was…way more than OK!” 

                     marine artist Geoff Hunt at work

Having read The Perfect Wreck Steve’s other books are now high on my reading list:

Most Secret and Confidential: Intelligence in the Age of Nelson (Naval Institute Press; 2000)  A trade paperback edition is planned for Fall, 2012.

Seize, Burn or Sink: The thoughts and words of Lord Horatio Nelson (Scarecrow Press; 2006)

For more information visit the StevenMaffeo.com

The USS Constitution was one of the first six frigates authorized for construction by the Naval Act of 1794 and is most famous for her actions during the War of 1812 against Great Britain during which she defeated five British warships and earned her nickname, Old Ironsides. Launched in 1797 she is still a fully commissioned US Navy ship with a crew of 60 active-duty officers and personnel.  Old Ironsides is berthed at Pier 1 of the former Charlestown Navy Yard and no visit to Boston would be complete without taking the tour and visiting the bookstore.  Her crew and commanding officer Commander Matt Bonner are preparing for bicentennial observances of the War of 1812.

Explore Old Ironsides on line on this fun, interactive website Sue Hicken shared with me:  http://www.asailorslifeforme.org/ironsides_explore.php

But working as a registered nurse in a hospital Emergency Department is cake compared to working as a medic in a worn-torn land like Afghanistan. 

19-year-old Army Spc. Monica Lin Brown (pictured) from Lake Jackson Texas  is the second woman since World War II to be awarded the Silver Star for valor.  This article grabbed my attention and gave me pause.  I write historical fiction about a surgeon’s mate who takes part in a land battle — the 1762 Siege of Havana.  To read about a real live woman risking her life to save the lives of wounded soldiers is humbling, yet validating.  Female medic earns Silver Star in Afghan war (from MSNBC.com)  

Current Pentagon policy prohibits women from serving in front line combat roles – in the infantry, armor or artillery, for example. But the nature of the war in Afghanistan with no real front lines, has seen women soldiers take part in close-quarters combat more than in any previous conflict.

23-year-old sergeant Leigh Ann Hester was the first woman since WWII to receive the Silver Star, in 2005, for gallantry during an insurgent ambush in Iraq.

My prayers for all of the men and women serving their country; may you be safe and may you soon be reunited with your loved ones.

Peace.

Rough Medicine; Surgeons at Sea in the Age of Sail.

Joan Druett has read Surgeon’s Mate and discussed it today on her blog, World of the Written Word.

As a child my favorite and most memorable Christmas gifts were a geologist’s rock hammer, a microscope, a chemistry set — and books.  Every year Uncle Bob, the bachelor friend of my parents, gave each of the Collison girls a hardback book.  I cherished these books, reading them over and over and over again, becoming the characters and living the story for days on end.  Some of my favorites that leap to mind were King of the Wind and Misty of Chincoteague, by Marguerite Henry and Walter Farley’s Black Stallion series.  I learned to write, as all writers do, by reading and imagining what I had read.

I’ve seen a few posts and tweets this season about what to give writers for the holidays (and even posted one myself about needing more time!) but I haven’t seen so many thoughts on what writers can give (besides comp copies, remainders and ARCs for review.)  A true gift is not a promo, I remind myself.   Here are some ideas how writers can give unique and powerful gifts this year.  Some are big gifts and some are cute little stocking stuffers but all can make a difference in someone’s life.

Help someone write a winning resume – especially someone with a learning disability or someone who doesn’t own a computer.

Assist an elderly person write or record their memoirs.

Read to a child, and often.  Don’t have a child handy?  Volunteer to read at a local school.

Read to an adult.  (A shut-in, an elderly neighbor, or your significant other!)

Organize an afternoon or evening writing workshop for teens, or young mothers, free of charge (call your local library or youth group organization.)

Volunteer as a tutor or pledge some hours with the local literacy program.

Give books (other than ones you’ve written!) or gift cards to buy books.

Write a review for an author whose work you admire, post it — and don’t ask for one in return.

Create heartfelt thank-you notes to those who have done something for you.

Speak words of good cheer and sincerity to all you greet this time of year.

Greet someone in their native language.

Listen — really listen — to someone else’s words and respond from the heart.

Say thank-you often, be generous with your “well dones!”

Write a poem for everyone on your list

Pray aloud.  (Atheist?  Talk to yourself.)

Sing!

Get that damn novel finished!  The world is waiting for you to write your truth as only you can.