Writing for Fun and Profit - Pt. 1

We must have at least four books in the works at the moment … all of them in various stages of “incomplete”. There's a cookbook which needs a rewrite and an anthology of sailing stories from down under. David's electrical handbook for sailors is coming together and we've been working on a novel idea for ages. We thought the long Atlantic passage would be great for concentrating on our books, but it's our magazine articles, not books, that help feed the cruising kitty. Relying on our sailing experiences, we're able to share our life aboard Nine of Cups and get paid for it. What a deal!

Want to take a stab at getting published in a magazine? Try these ideas.

1. Determine an area of expertise or interest. You don't have to be a sailor. Figure out what you'd like to write about. Do you have a hobby? Are you a parent? Do you like to travel? Do you have pets? Are you a farmer, a hairdresser, a welder, a 50+ retiree? Obviously, the more you know or care about your topic, the more it will show in your writing.

2. Research what journals or magazines cater to this interest. There are magazines out there for every interest imaginable. Don't forget to research regional magazines for your area. They're smaller and may be more interested in your articles than national journals. Think outside of the box. We tend to write for sailing magazines because we sail and live on a boat, but I've submitted articles to cat magazines because we used to have a cat aboard. I've submitted articles to travel magazines. I've even submitted funny anecdotes to Reader's Digest.
3. Obtain the Writer's Guidelines for those magazines of interest. This is key. Some magazines are very specific as to the length of the piece, the format in which it should be submitted, whether photos are required, their terms and amounts of their payment. The links below provide lists of magazines and their guidelines. These lists are not exhaustive by any means, but they'll give you an idea of what's out there.

   http://www.freelancewriting.com/guidelines/pages/index.php

   http://www.internet-resources.com/writers/markets/online-guidelinesMO.htm#MMM

4. Get a copy of the magazine(s) in which you're interested. Read it thoroughly. Determine what types of articles they publish and what types they don't. Good Old Boat, for instance, does not accept destination articles, but loves “how-to” pieces. Caribbean Compass only accepts articles concerning the Caribbean. Get a feel for the mood of the pieces. Are they serious? Whimsical? First person anecdotes? Determine what “departments” they have that might prove suitable for the article you want to write.

5. Figure out your angle. Magazine articles usually do one or more of these things: inform, persuade, instruct, or entertain. I tend to write informational/entertainment pieces on the places we visit. David writes how-to and technical pieces (instructional) on various topics relating to the boat. Which category fits your article? Which category fits the magazine?

   Stay tuned for Part 2 tomorrow …

Rainy Day on the Essequibo River

The rainy season is upon us in Guyana. This is the “short” rainy season … mid-November through mid-January versus the long and more intense rainy season May-August. Though we've had torrential downpours in the last weeks, we haven't had an entire day of rain until today. We were still anchored off the Grass Islands when the wind came up and the rain began, accompanied by several loud claps of thunder and a few seconds later, lightning flashes...too close for comfort. We grabbed a GPS and an iPad and stuck them in the microwave for safekeeping (our Faraday cage), then sat and listened to the rain. The thunder and lightning passed quickly and just the rain remained … lots of it.

If it rained everyday, we'd surely be sick of it in a hurry, but once in awhile it's actually a novelty and we enjoy it. It's been so humid, we feel we could wring out the air some days. The rain was welcome, cool and refreshing. David scrubbed the deck and showered in the morning rain, while I collected about five gallons of water for the tanks off the recently scrubbed bimini. We haven't seen rains like these since we were last in Panama. We'll have to get our water catchment system up and running again. In the meantime, a big funnel and a few bowls worked just fine, but needed some monitoring. I positioned and angled the bowls and collection pail to catch the maximum amount of water, but it required constant surveillance as the wind picked up or diminished and the boat swung around.

The rain stopped momentarily. It spitted and sputtered big drops for awhile and then the dark clouds opened up and the rains began in earnest once again. This time I collected another 10 gallons of rainwater for the water tanks. There's a certain satisfaction in collecting rain for our drinking water. It reminds me of planting seeds, nurturing a plant and then picking the fruits of the harvest. There's nothing like picking that first tomato off the vine from your own garden. Collecting water and pouring it into the water tanks provides a similar feel, but the rewards occur almost immediately. No planting, no weeding, no waiting … just precious, sweet water straight from the heavens. Good for impatient souls like myself.. By the end of the day, I had dumped 20 gallons of fresh water into our tanks.

David bailed the dinghy two or three times during the day. I had hoped to use the dinghy water for laundry, but with daily rains now, I'm afraid if I hang out the laundry, it'll never dry. A few pair of underwear hung down below is all I can manage, and with this humidity, they take two days to dry.

David wasn't the only one aboard who enjoyed a rain shower.

The rest of our rainy day was spent reading and writing and perhaps the crew took a short nap at some point, the patter of rain on the deck providing the perfect lullaby. While watching a movie in the evening, David felt something on his leg. No...not a flying fish … not an egret...not a bat. A frog … in the saloon! He hopped around awhile and started climbing the wall with his suction-cup feet. David finally caught him and sent him for a swim. David is now officially … the animal whisperer!

New River, New Country, Same Old Chores

One of the inescapable parts of the liveaboard cruising/travel life is chores. I guess it's not much different than living in a house … except we float (usually in salt water), things vibrate and shake a lot (and we're not talking earthquakes) and we're solely responsible for fixing/maintaining it all ourselves. No local handyman to call; no quick trip to the local Home Depot. Yes, we could wait till we were in a marina and hire all the jobs out … sometimes we do, but rarely. Our budget doesn't support it, plus it's always better to do things yourself. The to-do list in Suriname includes varnishing. David had started it in French Guiana, but he was far from finished. Varnishing, in and of itself, isn't all that bad. It's the prep work involved that takes up the time. First, we must remove everything obstructing the work area. In this case, David is working on the eyebrow, the port cap rail and the teak boxes on the aft deck. (He tells everyone that's where we hide our doubloons.) All the fuel cans and the fender boards on the port side need to be removed and stowed somewhere else on deck. Hardware needs to be removed and hopefully put in a place where we'll find again. (No worries, we have a system … that usually works.) Sheets and lines need to be coiled up out of the way. Then comes the sanding … a mindless, hand-wrenching, skin-abrading task that takes forever and, if not done properly, screws up the whole varnishing job.

There's the careful masking of all areas to be varnished, then a wipe-down of the teak with acetone and finally … the first coat of varnish or in this case, Uroxsys, can be applied. Depending on the product and directions, a second coat may be applied without more sanding … or not. By the third or fourth coat, light sanding is always required once again … and then at least one more sanding before the final coat. Then, of course, when the varnishing is done, the masking tape and any sticky residue must be carefully removed and all the hardware, fender boards, fuel cans, etc., must be re-stowed and lashed. This whole process takes days, not hours and it's particularly tedious. (Note to selves … next boat should have less teak...and stainless)

Okay, so you've listened to me whinge about varnishing for a few paragraphs. What else? The decks are filthy and I've been scrubbing them in sections, careful to avoid the newly varnished areas. There's still laundry to be done everyday. The marina has one washer ashore, but the cost is high (US$6/wash-no dryer), so I've been doing it by hand which means lugging fresh water to the boat. There's a fresh water tap on the dinghy dock though which is a bit easier than toting those full water jugs for two blocks in Saint-Laurent.

There's the usual sweeping, cleaning, dusting, washing, meal prep, cooking and clean-up required midst the rest of the chores we need to tackle. There's free wifi here at Marina Suriname, but alas, the signal is not strong enough to reach the boat even with our super duper antenna, which means we have to tote the laptop to shore each day. All in all, we're keeping busy. Please note that though all the photos show the Captain working, the First Mate, does, on rare occasion, pitch in and do her share.

Forgive me if I sound like a broken record when it comes to doing chores. The only reason I provide the chore routine regularly and in detail is because that's the way it really is. We'd hate you to think that we sail along, get into a port, plan our inland touring, have fun, and then move on. It's never that way … never. Living on a boat is about compromise and hard work. It's about keeping up with repairs and maintenance. It's about working in the hot sun or with your head in the engine room or the bilge when you don't really feel like it, so that the boat is always shipshape… so you can find time to go exploring another day. That's the reward.

We've worked hard since we arrived and you guessed it … time for a road trip to see some of Suriname. Maybe this weekend?