Another dysfunctional Thanksgiving
Another dysfunctional Thanksgiving! Time to dust off the china, chipped and mismatched like us, incomplete yet serviceable broken and lost over the years and added to, piece by piece partial [...]
Kimberley Reeman’s Dark Wisdom
Spouses and lovers are more than muses. Sometimes they function as silent partners in the creation, freely allowing their mate the needed time and space to work. As silent partners [...]
John Nichol, mariner and memoirist.
John Nichol, mariner. I would have liked to have known him. Re-reading his episodic memoir (I first read it at sea on a Pacific voyage - the same waters he [...]
Memoirs of Robert Hay
More fiction has been written about naval officers aboard British warships during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, I would guess, than any other single period in history. The protagonist is [...]
Women Aboard: Meriem Jo Ann Boussoauoar at the helm
Meet Meriem Jo Ann Boussouar -- novice sailor, boat owner, Gold Star mother, and grandmother. After my son, Sgt Kyle Thomas, was killed while serving in the military, I had [...]
Read ’em & weep: Sunday Night Knife & Gun Club
You are hereby requested to appear at the Watering Hole Saloon, Sunday night at 9:00 pm. Come alone and come armed. ~ High Plains Vigilantes for American Justice My stomach [...]
On the road to Taos
Some of the most helpful critiques I've ever received on my prose have been from a poet. This particular poet -- Lawrence Gregory. Lawrence has a real ear for voice [...]
Women Aboard!
Women have always been aboard ship. As passengers, girlfriends, and wives. As sailors, surgeons, nurses, helmsmen, and shipmasters. Women aboard — I got caught up in the history back in [...]
Writers’ Conferences — why I go.
Some go for the inspiration. Some, to improve their craft. Some go in hopes of finding an agent who will get them a six-figure advance and a three-book deal while [...]
Nautical Historical Fiction — Getting it Right
Nautical readers and historical fiction writers, I'm pleased to be in good company with Alaric Bond and Antoine Vanner presenting a breakout session at the Historical Novel Society Conference next [...]