Carol Newman Cronin's Blog, page 65

Savoring "The Sea and the Silence"

One of the many great things about writing books is that it gives me a professional excuse to read.  Reading is much easier than writing, and I've always considered an hour lost in a book as one of life's great luxuries.

I've also tried to justify it as a sleep-aid, but that must be averaged out with the many nights a good story has kept me up past my usual bedtime.  So it was last week with "The Sea and the Silence," Peter Cunningham's just-published novel about the life of an Irish woman...

Thoughts for a Spring Friday

Growing up, I belonged to a choir that performed a series of eecummings poems that had been set to music. One of my favorites was a spring poem which I'm sure will be familiar to many of you called In Just. I won't contaminate it by writing it out here, but I encourage you to read the full version in all its formatting glory on The Poet's Corner.

One word combination always sticks with me from that lovely poem:  puddle-wonderful.  What a great reminder of the beauty of spring, and the...

Diving into "The Swimming Pool"

I spent summers on Cape Cod as a kid, and as soon as I graduated from college I moved there. I still get back as often as possible to visit family and friends.  And this past year I spent a lot of time dreaming about the area as I wrote and edited my second book, "Cape Cod Surprise." So when I saw Holly LeCraw's debut novel "The Swimming Pool, " I decided to treat myself to a fun read about the Cape (which, after all, is a much easier form of enjoyment than writing about it).

The jacket flap t...

She shoots, she Scores… GOAL!

It's not often that my book life and my sailing life overlap, but it happened last week.

Last Friday, I submitted a file (only ten minutes late) that represented almost a year of hard work.  Cape Cod Surprise, complete with layout and cover art, has been sent off to meet the sharp eyes of my publisher and editor at GemmaMedia. [Insert appropriate "cheer" word here, along with much overdone punctuation.:]

Writing a sequel requires all the same effort as the original book.  1. Dream up enough...

Getting My Feet Wet

I love to swim, and I sail small boats that put me underwater on a regular basis.  But I Hate Wet Feet.

(Just to clarify:  that's soggy terrarium feet trapped inside wet socks, shoes, or boots.  Not happy bare wiggly toes dipping into a pool or dangling off the edge of a dock.)

I first discovered this aversion to damp tootsies when I worked in boat yards. Rainy days boiled down to one elusive goal; how long can I keep my feet dry?  Deep puddles, bad drainage, and canvas shoes that soaked up...

The Rising of a Star?

I've been thinking a lot lately about success. Not the standard question, "how can I be more successful?"  (which is usually just a tasteful coverup for "how can I make more money?")

My question is completely different: Have I already succeeded, and just failed to notice?

From 2000-2004, one very specific goal defined success for me – winning the US Olympic Trials.  With that ultimate date and location in mind, my team made a detailed list of  improvements to focus on day to day during our...

Guest Post: Where Books Meet Boats

Kim Couranz takes time off from her day job in communications at NOAA to sail with me.  This week we're bringing a new Snipe up to speed, and she took time off from boatwork and reading to write this post.

I'm lucky not only to have some great friends who are also terrific sailors, but a super-duper hubby who understands that sometimes I need to go on vacation without him to go sailing with those aforementioned great sailing friends.

When I'm really lucky, those aforementioned sailing friends ...

Social Re-Pair

Last week, I ran into a sailing acquaintance at my favorite coffee shop downtown.  This person wasn't a close friend – just someone I'd gotten to know over the years.  We chatted about weather, family, and boats (not necessarily in that order), ordered our snacks, and waved goodbye.  Such random encounters are one of the many things I love about living in a small town.

No matter how well technology and social media enable communication, physical proximity still counts.  It's great (mostly) to ...

Winter on the Right Coast

This post first appeared as a guest blog on East Coast by Choice.

The conversation usually starts off like this: I make an innocent reference to one of the many objects that I own and take completely for granted, like my bent-handled snow shovel or extendable ice scraper.  Or maybe I rave about my favorite hat, best boots, warmest gloves, softest neck gaiter…

And after one or two polite remarks, I'm invariably asked:

"How do you STAND it?"

The "IT" is winter. The questioner is usually one of my f...

Is it Advertising, or Information?

For the past fifteen years, six magic words have eliminated almost all telemarketing calls from my life:

"Please take me off your list."

Because there's a potentially stiff ($10K) fine from the FCC for repeat calls, most companies do as I've requested.  But recently I had to resort to more severe methods when regular calls from a script reader with accented English offered a "free listing" in something that sounded vaguely like the Yellow Pages. After the fourth daily call when I started to...