Lin Pardey's Blog, page 2
August 4, 2011
Penguin wars
Due to the landslips caused by torrential rain from two hurricanes back in January, we had to move my office (it is a 10 by 14 foot wooden building). So yesterday, David, who works for us around the boatyard, was doing some final clean up – removing the last bits of earth that had fallen against the back of the building. All of a sudden he let out a scream then actually started giggling. I went out to see what was causing the fuss. "Talk about weird, I was just getting ready to slam the shovel down and bit into a big chunk of clay when a penguin popped out of the dirt," David said. "Luckily, I stopped my shovel just before I hit him. Darned bird won't move out of the way now." I went out and looked under the office where, in a space about 8 inches high, two blue penguins had begun building a nesting place. These birds are about 14 or 15 inches high and tough. They hissed and attacked us every time we tried to gently move them out using the shovel and long pieces of wood. "Leave them be," I finally said. "I can put up with the noise they make if they have to nest under there." Fortunately, once the earth that had been forming a sort of back wall to their nesting place, had been moved, the penguins left of their own accord. As cute as it may seem to have a penguin family living with us, I am glad they are gone. Our neighbor once had penguins under his house. When spring came and young ones began to feed the whole place smelled like rotten fish. Worse, each time the parent penguins came home from fishing, it sounded like an Irish pub gone wild.
July 30, 2011
Heading Northward
Bryce, Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, my head is spinning as I listen to everyones suggestions. We are packing up ready to fly to the USA at the end of the week. It's time to promote this new book by visiting boatshows, bookshops. Most of the dates are on the US east coast. Our pickup truck and camper are on the west coast. So as a special treat we are taking a month to travel across country and hopeful see some of the beautiful parts of the continent. We've explored in almost 80 other countries, but rarely seem to slow down when we are in the USA, so many friends and families to see. This will be a real treat! We pick up our truck in Paso Robles and then head towards Yosemite to visit a special friend there. After that we'll just wing it. Truck we call "Brownie Lite" is easy to drive, camper is comfortable and self contained so we can camp alongside any lovely lake we see. (We named our first touring truck Brownie after a truck drive Larry used to know and also because the truck was brown. This new truck is lighter brown and lighter weight and lighter on fuel usage too.)
July 24, 2011
Story Telling
I took a break from writing, from getting ready for a book tour and spent five days in the Big Smoke at the New Zealand International Film Festival. What a treat and a true reminder of how important story telling is and has been throughout history. Larry and I booked a suite at a nice motel right next to a bus that runs to downtown every 15 minutes (suite sounds grand but at $95 a night it was a bargain as it had a small kitchen which meant we ate some nice very affordable light meals there instead of always spending money in restaurants.) We then took in three of four different movies each day. My absolute favorite, The Separation – an Iranian film with subtitles. Second favorites all tied – The First Grader from Kenya, Sing my Song – a biopic of Harry Belafonte, Buck – the story of the true Horse Whisperer. Two of the films we choose just didn't seem to work for either of us. In the end both of us agreed – the ones we liked best all had strong compelling story lines. They also made us feel we knew people very like the ones portrayed. the charactors actions all made sense. The ones neither of us enjoyed didn't seem to have strong reasons for being…even if the film making was good or in one case – Meeks Crossing- the photography was wonderful. But interestingly the ones we liked least won awards at other festivals. Guess that's why there are so many different book and films, everyone looks for a different thing from a story.
July 4, 2011
Special writers seminar scheduled for Septembers
For anyone interested in writing or video making – you might like to join us at the SSCA Gam being held near Annapolis September 23-25th. You do not have to be a member to join in for a fun weekend. We'll be doing a free talk on the Saturday. Then on Sunday there will be a 2-1/2 hour workshop as described below. It costs $40 per person but just to hear what Tory has to say about the world of internet and direct to TV video streaming it will be more than worthwhile.
Writing, Photography and Videos - adding to your cruising kitty
Presented by Lin Pardey
Special guest – Tory Salvia founder of www.thesailingchannel.tv
Cruising fills your mind with new sights, new ideas, new sounds. The long night watches seem a perfect opportunity to type up your thoughts. Days at anchor in quiet lagoons give you time to expand your ideas into articles or videos. How do you encourage someone to pay you for those hours of commitment? What are the realities of writing for sailing publications, getting a book published or creating videos that sell?
Lin Pardey, author of eleven nautical books and several hundred magazine articles will share some of the secrets of getting published; the pitfalls, the practicalities and the realities. She'll give you tips on getting noticed by editors, presenting work that sells and expanding into the international nautical market plus:
Creating stories sailors of both sexes will want to read
Taking the photos that will sell your stories
The pros and cons of maintaining a blog as you cruise
Getting a book published, traditional and self-publishing options
A section on the practicalities and realities of making videos afloat will be presented jointly by Lin and Tory Salvia, creator of the successful sailing video website, www.thesailingchannel.tv Tory will outline what viewers are looking for plus:
Tips for shooting and editing in the offshore environment.
Why you need to create a "Brand"
Electronic methods of distribution
Both Lin and Tory will discuss the returns and rewards you can gain for your work.
Lin Pardey, with her partner Larry, has been topping up the cruising kitty by writing for 40 years. She has had more than 400 articles published in nine countries and five languages. Approximately 300,000 copies of the Pardey's books are now in print. Her latest title, Bull Canyon, a Boatbuilder, a Writer and other Wildlife was just released by Paradise Cay Publications. Publisher's Weekly says Bull Canyon is – "Significant, highly romantic, and admirable. With many homespun snapshots included, readers may feel as if they're following the fantastic adventures of an old friend."
Tory Salvia founder of www.thesailingchannel.tv, has been producing and editing films and videos for 35 years. A keen sailor himself, he has found ways to introduce sailing videos to an international audience through online downloads, rentals and apps. Amateur sailing video makers he has mentored now are creating successful programs on topics ranging from destinations, learning to cruise, voyaging, to boatbuilding and rigging. Sailing programs Tory edited have now appeared on Public Broadcast Television in six states.
Where- SSCA Gam, Fort Letts, Annapolis MD
When – Gam runs from Friday 23 to Sunday 25th. This presentation is Sunday 25th 9AM to 11:30AM
Price – $40.00 for seminar plus $30.00 for 3 day pass to GAM and its open seminars.
Registration – www.ssca.org
Limited attendance so pre-registration is recommended.
June 30, 2011
A tiny new life in a tiny community
When two of our neighbor married several months ago during a lovely itimate ceremony the mother of the bride who lives in Spain, lamented the fact that she would not be around when her first grand child arrived. I promised I would be sure she had photos of the new life that was in the offing. Yesterday I put on my boots at low tide and walked around the point to Tim and Cats path. It was a sunny but chilly day and
after two days of rain I must admit the track up about 100 steps was slippery and muddy and daunting. But once there I really enjoyed taking a family portrait. Olive is only two months old and slept through the whole process. the two parents are delighted with their new life, their healthy daughter and fortunately the pics I took. I enjoyed the sense of continuity a baby adds to any community.
June 19, 2011
Winter pleasures
June 24th
The weather was miserable, wet and windy. But I put on my foulweather jacket and hopped on a water taxi to head for the mainland. I am an active member of the readers group here on the island. We meet the fourth Thursday of every month at a different island home. But this month, the member who was hosting, was off-island, house sitting. She invited us to lunch at the beautiful hill top house overlooking a river 8 miles south of our island. Fifteen of us got together to share what we had read the past month. along with a few glasses of wine. No formal book assignments for this group – just talk about what ever we have read, what we liked, what we didn't. Share books, share ideas. An amazingly eclectic list of reading material. Fun part was comparing the Kindle Reader and iPad two folks brought along. Even the owners of these reading devises feel they still like real books – for the feel, the fun of trading. I had to restrain myself from adding any more books to my reading pile. Winter may be the right time to settle in with a book, but iI am busy getting ready for our book promo tour so must constrain myself to bed time stuff. Favorite at this moment is the sequel to an old timer everyone else has probably read, The Yearling by Marjorie Rawlings. The sequel is called, Cross Creek.
June 21st.
I should have been at my desk. But Larry just got the little trailer sailor he rescued, ready for its first sail. The sun was out, it was warm considering it is winter down here in New Zealand. I made two quick sandwiches, grabbed a jacket, a bottle of water then set to work helping clean out the tools and junk so we could untie PW's mooring lines. We only had about an hour to scoot around the bay because a big black cloud began moving across from the mainland. We sailed back in to the jetty minutes before heavy rain set in. Good fun and I felt refreshed and ready to work on answers to an interview that was waiting on my desk.
– June 12th Sunday
I am back at the island after three days in the "Big Smoke". Our New Zealand distributor set up a book launching party for Bull Canyon. What a fun evening. It was held at Swashbucklers, a seafood restaurant right in the main marina of Auckland. I'd never eaten there and in fact thought it a bit funky from the outside. But it turned out to be a great venue and had surprisingly good food for the 30 of us who stayed on afterwards to share generous platters of sautéed seafood including lots of scallops, green lipped mussels, prawns and fresh snapper.
I have never before had a formal book launching – and Larry agreed that the idea of just standing up and talking about my book – in effect telling everyone they should buy it – made me uncomfortable. So we decided I should put on a short slide show instead, showing four of the biggest adventures of our lives together. I called it Wind, Sand and Sea. The Bull Canyon story definitely fit right in. the slide show worked a treat, with the 85 or 95 attendees laughing at the right times, making me feel all warm and fulfilled by their comments afterwards. The book distributor was happy, we made some new friends, no one seemed eager to leave and I was made to feel very special too.
Now the book is formally launched, sent off into the world to find its home. Guess I should start thinking about the next stories that are waiting to be told. But first I have to finish organizing our US boat show visits. (For those who might enjoy meeting up with us at Port Townsend WA, Newport RI or Annapolis MD click on http://www.linpardey.com/seminar-schedule)
Wednesday June 8th
I sometimes wish I didn't have such a great view from my office window. It's really hard to settle in to writing mode when I see the barge arriving to remove the big digger that has been cleaning up the mess at the far end of our property. Of course I have to go out and watch Larry and the crew as they slowly move the ten ton machine across the newly rebuilt seawall. I only stay for a minute. I rush back 300 yards to my office and type a few more words, write down a few more notes. Then I see the barge maneuver alongside Taleisin's marina berth at the end of our jetty. I hear the shouting, watch as the two big pilings that are used to hold the boat away from the pontoon in strong winds get shoved a bit too hard. "Don't worry, we'll straighten them after we clean out the built up silt," calls the barge operator. But of course I worry – so I stop writing again and go out to watch the digger pull up huge buckets full of sticky gooey mud that has silted up the area where Taleisin sits. From my office I watch the digger operator use his bucket gently and accurately to reset the pilings. I look out toward where Taleisin is sitting quietly on a mooring. I know I will not get much writing done tomorrow because the weather forecast is great – warm and sunny when it should be cold and dreary since it is winter down here. Now her berth is cleared out so Taleisin won't touch bottom even at very low tides, I want her back alongside so I can touch up some varnish work. That combined with the fine weather prediction creates a good excuse to go out sailing. Far more elegant way to get her into the slip than just sculling her across the 100 feet of water between the mooring and pontoon. The day after that there is a party to formally launch Bull Canyon here in New Zealand. So we're headed off island and into Auckland. I guess the view from my window has guaranteed I won't get this new story truly under way until next week.
Monday, June 6th
When you live on an island with no roads or shops, getting ready to head to the mainland means writing notes then making lists,. So I always try to have a small pad of paper nearby. A few days ago, during a two day foray off island to get groceries and meet up with a few friends and attend an author's evening, I saw another potential use for my ever-present note pad.
I have never been to an authors evening nor even a book signing. When the Village Bookshop over in Matakana announced an evening with Sarah-Kate Lynch, Larry suggested we go along, "You might get some interesting ideas for your Bull Canyon promo tour," he said. "Besides, I like the café next to the book store. We can have dinner out too." To be candid, I hadn't heard of Sarah-Kate but her latest book, Dolci di Love was described by Publishers Weekly as "populated with charactors whose vitality is contagious in this perfect combo of travel and romance." The story moves between New York City and a hill top village in Tuscany.
It was obvious from the full house that other people definitely knew and liked Sarah-Kate's previous novels (the venue was a small but beautiful local boutique cinema with about 120 seats.) After she was introduced, Sarah-Kate soon had us chuckling with her description of the highs and lows of a book promotion tour she had just done in the USA. Then she said, "And another thing that is really embarrassing is to finish your prepared talk then say – does anyone have any questions- and encounter absolute silence. Everyone looks embarrassed, no one puts their hand up. So I am going to make sure that doesn't happen tonight. I am going to pass out these slips of paper with questions on them." She walked into the audience and handed out little slips of note paper to people at random, chatting all the time. The laughter rang out, she had us completely on her side and, when she finished her talk, the notes worked like a charm opening a floodgate of questions from a satisfied audience.
Yes, I have bought a copy of the book and found a new author to follow.
Nothing like a bit of sailing to brighten a winter day
I should have been at my desk. But Larry just got the little trailer sailor he rescued, ready for its first sail. The sun was out, it was warm considering it is winter down here in New Zealand. I made two quick sandwiches, grabbed a jacket, a bottle of water then set to work helping clean out the tools and junk so we could untie PW's mooring lines. We only had about an hour to scoot around the bay because a big black cloud began moving across from the mainland. We sailed back in to the jetty minutes before heavy rain set in. Good fun and I felt refreshed and ready to work on answers to an interview that was waiting on my desk.
– June 12th Sunday
I am back at the island after three days in the "Big Smoke". Our New Zealand distributor set up a book launching party for Bull Canyon. What a fun evening. It was held at Swashbucklers, a seafood restaurant right in the main marina of Auckland. I'd never eaten there and in fact thought it a bit funky from the outside. But it turned out to be a great venue and had surprisingly good food for the 30 of us who stayed on afterwards to share generous platters of sautéed seafood including lots of scallops, green lipped mussels, prawns and fresh snapper.
I have never before had a formal book launching – and Larry agreed that the idea of just standing up and talking about my book – in effect telling everyone they should buy it – made me uncomfortable. So we decided I should put on a short slide show instead, showing four of the biggest adventures of our lives together. I called it Wind, Sand and Sea. The Bull Canyon story definitely fit right in. the slide show worked a treat, with the 85 or 95 attendees laughing at the right times, making me feel all warm and fulfilled by their comments afterwards. The book distributor was happy, we made some new friends, no one seemed eager to leave and I was made to feel very special too.
Now the book is formally launched, sent off into the world to find its home. Guess I should start thinking about the next stories that are waiting to be told. But first I have to finish organizing our US boat show visits. (For those who might enjoy meeting up with us at Port Townsend WA, Newport RI or Annapolis MD click on http://www.linpardey.com/seminar-schedule)
Wednesday June 8th
I sometimes wish I didn't have such a great view from my office window. It's really hard to settle in to writing mode when I see the barge arriving to remove the big digger that has been cleaning up the mess at the far end of our property. Of course I have to go out and watch Larry and the crew as they slowly move the ten ton machine across the newly rebuilt seawall. I only stay for a minute. I rush back 300 yards to my office and type a few more words, write down a few more notes. Then I see the barge maneuver alongside Taleisin's marina berth at the end of our jetty. I hear the shouting, watch as the two big pilings that are used to hold the boat away from the pontoon in strong winds get shoved a bit too hard. "Don't worry, we'll straighten them after we clean out the built up silt," calls the barge operator. But of course I worry – so I stop writing again and go out to watch the digger pull up huge buckets full of sticky gooey mud that has silted up the area where Taleisin sits. From my office I watch the digger operator use his bucket gently and accurately to reset the pilings. I look out toward where Taleisin is sitting quietly on a mooring. I know I will not get much writing done tomorrow because the weather forecast is great – warm and sunny when it should be cold and dreary since it is winter down here. Now her berth is cleared out so Taleisin won't touch bottom even at very low tides, I want her back alongside so I can touch up some varnish work. That combined with the fine weather prediction creates a good excuse to go out sailing. Far more elegant way to get her into the slip than just sculling her across the 100 feet of water between the mooring and pontoon. The day after that there is a party to formally launch Bull Canyon here in New Zealand. So we're headed off island and into Auckland. I guess the view from my window has guaranteed I won't get this new story truly under way until next week.
Monday, June 6th
When you live on an island with no roads or shops, getting ready to head to the mainland means writing notes then making lists,. So I always try to have a small pad of paper nearby. A few days ago, during a two day foray off island to get groceries and meet up with a few friends and attend an author's evening, I saw another potential use for my ever-present note pad.
I have never been to an authors evening nor even a book signing. When the Village Bookshop over in Matakana announced an evening with Sarah-Kate Lynch, Larry suggested we go along, "You might get some interesting ideas for your Bull Canyon promo tour," he said. "Besides, I like the café next to the book store. We can have dinner out too." To be candid, I hadn't heard of Sarah-Kate but her latest book, Dolci di Love was described by Publishers Weekly as "populated with charactors whose vitality is contagious in this perfect combo of travel and romance." The story moves between New York City and a hill top village in Tuscany.
It was obvious from the full house that other people definitely knew and liked Sarah-Kate's previous novels (the venue was a small but beautiful local boutique cinema with about 120 seats.) After she was introduced, Sarah-Kate soon had us chuckling with her description of the highs and lows of a book promotion tour she had just done in the USA. Then she said, "And another thing that is really embarrassing is to finish your prepared talk then say – does anyone have any questions- and encounter absolute silence. Everyone looks embarrassed, no one puts their hand up. So I am going to make sure that doesn't happen tonight. I am going to pass out these slips of paper with questions on them." She walked into the audience and handed out little slips of note paper to people at random, chatting all the time. The laughter rang out, she had us completely on her side and, when she finished her talk, the notes worked like a charm opening a floodgate of questions from a satisfied audience.
Yes, I have bought a copy of the book and found a new author to follow.
June 12, 2011
By: Catherine Wenzel
Hi Lin,
Love your blog. My family and I are always happy to hear about Lin and Larry adventures, at sea and on land. We wish you many, many more. Keep writing, we love it!
June 9, 2011
By: Peter Zink
Lin,
Love everything you and Larry do. Your books "Cost Conscious Cruiser" and "Self Sufficient Sailor" were definitely the main inspirations for me to take up freelance writing, and leave my job next year and go for an extended cruise. I'm a little terrified honestly, but I'm determined to go, and I think it will work out in the end. Look forward to reading about your time in Bull Canyon.
- Peter
