Mike Jastrzebski's Blog, page 33

Running on rainbows and sunbeams…

 

C.E. Grundler

Well, technically only sunbeams, but that’s still a whole lot greener than most alternatives currently making props go around these days. And while solar powered boats have been showing up in the headlines more frequently, they’re either theoretical or a bit beyond the price range of the average boater. But the other day, as I took a break from my rounds of epoxy and glass layup, I spotted something you don’t see every day. There she was, floating gracefully at the end of the transient dock, a plumb-bowed trimaran with lines reminiscent of a 1920s cabin cruiser and the name ‘RA’ proudly displayed across her bow. Covering the top of her pilothouse and the braces for her pontoons were an array of solar panels.

This called for a closer look.

Sometime back, somewhere in my reading/surfing, I’d heard about this custom built 48′ boat. And now she was there before me, and her captain, Jim Greer was only too happy to invite me aboard and offer me a tour of this innovative boat, home built on a budget. I was fascinated to learn that not only had she covered thousands of miles powered only by the sun, but ridden out a hurricane in the process.

I came back the next day, when I wasn’t laying up glass, to speak with the captain and crew. I met Brian and Sappho, as well as Florence and Bill, who were travelling with them (as well as four children and a dog) in another boat, and had a wonderful afternoon hearing their stories as I gave them a lift to the local grocery to refresh their provisions.

If you’d like to learn more of RA and her fascinating travels, (as well as some stunning photography,) take a look at Solar Boat Chronicles, and follow this impressive boat as she explores our nation’s waters. And be on the lookout, because you just might spot her slipping along, cutting silently through the water and barely stirring a wake as she forges ahead in so many ways.

(Photos from their web site. I took pics, but realized this morning that I left my camera aboard my boat.)

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Mystery Writers Key West Fest

Michaelhaskins.net

I wanted to upgrade the information I mentioned a few weeks ago about an author/fan conference in Key West. The hotel deal is all but signed and the inaugural Mystery Writers Key West Fest will be held June 13-14, in Key West.

Friday evening there will be a meet-and-greet the authors at the Smokin’ Tuna Saloon, where the mayor will read the city’s proclamation declaring the weekend Mystery Writers Weekend in Key West. Drink specials, of course and a band made up of writers Don Bruns (if you’ve been to SleuthFest you’ve heard him) Mike Dennis (local noir writer and piano man) and Hal Howland (local drummer with a trop-rock band with degrees in music; an education like his and he plays in a trop-rock band!). These guys will surprise you with their ability in music as well as fiction.

Saturday, there will be two writers’ panels in the morning, a buffet luncheon with a guest speaker (two names you will know have promised to let us know in February if they can make it as the featured speaker), three panels after lunch and the last one will be made up of local law enforcement. What is crime in the Florida Keys really like? The current sheriff, Rick Ramsey, and retired sheriff, Rick Roth, will talk about county law enforcement and we hope to get Key West Police Chief Doni Lee to talk about crime or the lack thereof, in Key West. Also, a possible retired DEA agent or Homeland Security agent.

Saturday night, there’ll be an opportunity for a sunset cruise on the Fury where writers will do brief readings. A discounted ticket will be available.

Included in the conference fee – $98 – is a noir movie at the Tropic Cinema, and a conversation following it with Mike Dennis. Maybe Mike will explain about the movie before it’s shown. It comes from his personal collection of noir films. He’s trying to decide which one to show. Kind of like someone asking you which one of your kids you like best!

Being Key West, there could be a bar stroll and the owner of our Fantasy Fest themed Fairvilla Mega Store has offered to give us a rum punch as he explains the many erotic and exotic items in his store.

If your better half isn’t interested in the conference, Fury will offer discounted tickets for its snorkeling, parasailing and glass bottom boat tour to conference attendee families. There are art galleries and museums to visit too.

As more attractions are added to the conference, they will appear on our website – www.mysterywriterskeywestfest.com. It should be up soon, but will remain a work in progress until everything falls into place.

The Double Tree Grand Key Hotel is where the conference will be held and they’ve set aside a block of rooms at a discounted price. First-come, first-served. Not an overflow of hotel rooms in Key West, so if you’re interested, when the discount kicks in, I’d suggest taking it.

Hope to see you in the beautiful Florida Keys.

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I’m giving away 10 downloads of the audiobook version of Key Lime Blues

By Mike Jastrzebski

If you are interested in one of these 10 free audio copies of Key Lime Blues (Wes Darling Book 1), please e-mail me at mike@mikejastrzebski.com by Saturday, October 26th. If more than 10 interested readers write to me by Saturday, then I will have a drawing on Sunday and announce the winners on next Monday’s blog.

All I ask in return is that if you receive a copy you listen to the audio and post a review on Audible.com before Christmas.

The free audio will be downloaded directly from Audible by using an individualized download code that I will email to the winners, so please make sure that you contact me with a valid email address. If you’re not familiar with Key Lime Blues (Wes Darling Book 1) here’s the book description:

For some people working in the family business means suits, power lunches, and afternoon meetings. For Wes Darling it was guns, lies, and dead bodies.

The Darling Detective Agency was founded in 1876 by Aaron ‘Dusty’ Darling. Now Wes’s chain smoking, stressed out mother is grooming Wes to take over. How does he handle his mother’s demands? He heads to Key West, moves onto a sailboat, and takes a job tending bar at a little joint called Dirty Alvin’s.

Life is carefree until his mother’s lover, a man who mentored Wes for years, is murdered on a Key West Beach. Reluctantly, Wes is drawn into a spinning web of murder, sex and deceit.

First there are his mother’s pleas for help. Throw in a six-foot-tall red-headed stripper, a retired mobster who acts like it’s the 1940’s, a pair of dim-witted hit men, a phobic psychic named Elvis, a small fortune in stolen diamonds, and what do you have? Mayhem in Key West.

 

 

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10 things I’ve learned from my boat dogs

by Christine Kling

 

10. Don’t let other people dress you.

 

9. When in Florida, make sure you live in a place with a pool.

 

8. Life on a boat is waaay better than being homeless – even though we may not dress better.

 

7. When sailing, it’s always wise to have a safe hole to crawl into.

 

6. If you live with a writer, it’s always best to keep an eye on them. You never know what kind of mayhem they might be dreaming up.

 

5. Practice looking innocent — it’s sure to come in handy some day.

 

4. Never let the one you live with know who the real boss is.

 

3. AND don’t let them know you have expensive tastes. 

 

2. Getting old’s not for sissies. 

 

1. And finally — Living on a boat gives you the freedom to let it all hang out.

 

Fair winds!

Christine

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The sum of many parts…

C.E. Grundler

Years ago, when my daughter was still very young, my mother made a quilt for her. The pattern was a collection of geometric cat silhouettes, each sewn separately and then combined. And while the pattern was fairly basic, each cat was unique. Each was constructed from different fabrics, with little regard for esthetics. The fabrics, for the most part, were scraps from dresses I’d made for my daughter and myself, or from the pocket of a favorite shirt or the like. The end result was a whimsical and colorful collection of random cats. And the older it gets, the more treasured that quilt becomes, because it’s not just a quilt – for us, it’s a tapestry of memories.

As I work to reduce a houseful of possessions down to a boat-able size limit, I’ve been faced with quite a challenge. In some cases letting go can be easy – something no longer serves any purpose and there’s no sentimental ties to sever. But then you’re faced with something that while no longer useful to me, may evoke some fond memory. Or even a truckload of memories, as with my old Dodge pickup. 20 years of memories, but the truth is I just wasn’t using the truck enough to warrant keeping the old Dakota anymore. Old trucks need constant care, and they need regular use or they really start showing their age. Fortunately I have a friend who seemed as enamored with my Dodge as me, and has given the truck a good home and a second lease on life. And seeing him nearly every day, driving around in that truck with a big grin on his face, made letting go a little easier, and it made it easier to let go of other things I no longer need, knowing that others will get good use from them. And in some situations, such as a favorite old blanket or old jacket, now too worn to warrant keeping or even giving away, I’m simply cutting a small square of fabric. Because in the end you don’t need big pieces to make a quilt. Just a whole lot of small memories.

 

 

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The years weigh heavy

Kathi II on the marine railway at Ashby’s Boatyard in Opua 1976

by Christine Kling

I wasn’t going to post anything tonight. I’m so caught up in this mad dash to finish Dragon’s Triangle and I can’t afford the time or the energy to write anything else. And I didn’t really have any idea what to write about. But I clicked into my photo library anyway, and my iPhoto program opened up with the photo above of our Islander 44 hauled out at Ashby’s Boatyard in Opua in January of 1976.

I remembered when we hauled out at this tiny little boatyard in the middle of nowhere. We hauled the boat out on a marine railway that used a crotchety gas engine to power the winch that pulled the boats up the railway. The boatyard was located out on the tip of a point of land at the end of a dirt road. We got a bargain price because there was no power that could reach out there. We wet sanded the bottom by hand using buckets of water from the bay. In the shed there in the photo, they were building a wooden boat mostly using hand tools.

So on a whim I Googled Ashby’s Boatyard to see if that tiny little place still existed.

I found the website for the boatyard and marina where they haul out super yachts with their 50-ton travel lift. It looks like the shed and marine railway may still be there in the upper left corner of the photo. But back when we visited there was no marina, no big yards full of boats on stands, no breakwaters, no wharf.

And if I thought I felt old and tired before . . .

I think I should have stuck to my plan to take a pass on traveling back in time tonight. I’m going back to my novel. I still haven’t hit my word count for today.

Fair winds!

Christine

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Florida Bay, the NSA & WOW

Who knew that life here at Write On The Water was so linked to the federal government. For the readers and staff located in Florida, the government shutdown was the first indication. The nation’s 401 national parks closed due to the budget impasse in Washington. Along with Yosemite and the Grand Canyon, Everglades National Park and Dry Tortugas National Park closed. Remarkably, the shutdown of the Everglades also includes all of Florida Bay, an 1,100 square mile body of water that abuts the Everglades and the Florida Keys. It’s a real head scratcher that a huge body of water could be shut down by the federal government for budgetary reasons, but it’s a fact.

No less surprising is the unrelated news from the Washington Post regarding the National Security Agency’s harvesting of hundreds of millions of contact lists from personal e-mail and instant messaging accounts around the world.

Over the years we’ve heard a lot about secret three-letter government agencies. Until a year or two ago, many Americans thought the NSA was the group that put astronauts into space. And if you did happen to know about the NSA it was probably because you once went to school with some quiet brainiac who moved to Maryland to do some kind of computer work for the government. Today, the secret is out.

And for writers on this blog? There is no question that Write On The Water is high on the government’s watch list. Consider this:

First, there’s a long history of spies working under the cover of being an author or novelist. Remember E. Howard Hunt of Watergate fame? Before Watergate, Hunt was with the CIA (Guatemala, Bay of Pigs). Hunt was also a published mystery writer. Peter Matthiessen (The Snow Leopard and Shadow Country)? He might have been a short-timer, but he was CIA, too.

And while the government spooks likely have no reason to intercept what goes on at Write On The Water, those meta-data supercomputers in suburban Washington almost certainly picked up key words that finger us for the watch list. Individually, the Write On The Water blog postings seemed innocent enough, but the problems begin when the computers string together words and phrases. Mike with his articles about his Atomic 4 engine, Christine with her stories of gun running in the South pacific in the 70s, Michael Haskins’ accounts of sailing to Havana. And that’s before they start looking a little deeper into what these folks actually do when they’re meandering across the Gulf Stream and down the Bahamas.

With any luck, though, one of us might get approached by the NSA with an invitation to pen a few books on behalf of the motherland. You know, good versus bad, capitalism against communism stuff. The trouble is, that work probably doesn’t get categorized as essential services.

Oh, well. Back to the keyboard.

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It keeps on going…an update on our Atomic Four Engine

By Mike Jastrzebski

Like the Energizer Bunny our Atomic four engine at times seems unstoppable. I can’t count the number of times I’ve wanted to give up on this engine, but even though I hate working on engines, every time a problem pops up I’ve been able to fix it. Hopefully that includes the overheating problem that’s been plaguing us this past year.

Even while we were in the Bahamas this past spring and the engine was overheating, it ran well enough for us to motor to and from our anchorages giving me 1 1/2 – 2 hours running time before I had to shut it down.

I spent the last week or so working on the old A-4 and when I started it for a test run a few days ago it ran for four hours without overheating. Now it’s true that this was not under power, but while in the Abacos the longest I could run it at anchor was 2 hours, so the 4 hour run is good news. The next step will be taking it out to the Intracoastal Waterway for a test run, but first I have to get someone out here to clean the prop. So what did I do?

This past year before we headed to the Bahamas I changed the impellers on both water pumps, cleaned and tested the thermostat, and cleaned the heat exchanger. I thought I had the problem under control but part way to the Abacos the motor started overheating again.

This time I did a high pressure flush of the engine and the manifold and replaced the 140 degree thermostat with a 160 degree thermostat. This involved buying an adapter kit and adding a check valve to the bypass loop. I hope that when I go for my test run the overheating problem will be taken care of and we can head over to the Exumas, the trip we had wanted to make last year.

I’ll keep you posted on the test run and our time schedule, and if you’re out there and happen to spot Rough Draft, our 36 foot Islander, please dinghy on over and say hi.

 

 

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Common wisdom?

by Christine Kling

The issue of whether or not to include a prologue in books came up this week on an email list I am on, and when I should have been working on my new novel, instead I was off searching for evidence to support a theory of mine — that the world of authors and publishing is rife with rumors and urban legends that get passed off as common wisdom.

But let me back up a little here. Let’s start with what is supposedly the “common wisdom” about starting off your novel with a prologue.

-agents reject them

-editors loathe them

-readers skip them

I cannot tell you how often I have read all of the above on various discussion loops throughout the last ten years. Yes, I know there are individual editors and agents who have stated they hate prologues. So what? Some hate science fiction or romance or literary fiction, too. And yes, there are readers who skip them. That’s their loss. Yet people keep repeating this assertion that all writers should avoid prologues or simply rename them chapter one. So I set out to scour the Internet in an effort to find some real data to back up these assertions. And you know what I found? Nada, zilch, bupkis.

Writers are making these assertions based on anecdotal evidence. In other words, you know four people who all say they hate prologues and they never read them. Based on that, you – Nervous Nelly New Author – decide never to include one in your book. In that case you’ve just made both an artistic and a business decision based on a lousy assumption.

I don’t think most people who make these statements about what common wisdom in publishing have really comprehended the depth of the market for books in general. In the old days of print-only publishing that was understandable because we saw lots of bookstores, but for the most part, they all carried the same books. Is spite of the fact that we knew there were bestsellers, publishing seemed like a pretty small world.

Today, digital books and the ability to put them on e-readers, phones, tablets and computers has made it possible for anyone to carry a bookstore in his or her pocket.

In their latest product announcement, Apple announced that over 600 million iOS devices have been sold.

According to an article on All Things Digital Morgan Stanley estimated that “Amazon will sell $4.5 billion worth of Kindle e-readers and tablets this year, up 26 percent from 2012.” This is the best estimate available to guestimate the number of Kindle devices around since Amazon won’t release those figures. I reckon that is at least 20 million Kindle devices in 2013 alone.

And then there are Nook and Kobo devices out there, as well as millions of Android tablets and phones.

This Wikipedia page has some fascinating lists of the bestselling books of all time. The  bestselling single title is Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities and it’s taken more than 150 years to sell 200 million copies – and that is only the equivalent of a third of the iOS devices around today. (I found it oddly reassuring to note that the Fifty Shades series has not sold nearly as many copies as the Perry Mason series).

Back to my original point about prologues. I wanted to find a list of well-known books that had succeeded in spite of their prologues. I couldn’t find one anywhere on the Internet, so I made my own. Here is my list of some best sellers that included prologues:

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

The Life of Pi by Yann Martel

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris

Labyrinthe by Kate Mosse

The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason

Boy’s Life by Robert McCammon

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

In Pale Battalions by Robert Goddard

The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

Shogun by James Clavell

The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty

I reckon more than a few agents, editors and readers didn’t get the memo about the “common wisdom” concerning the prologues in those books.

 

So what do you think? Are you still going to keep repeating this “common wisdom” that writers should avoid prologues?

 

Fair winds!

Christine

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A matter of deciding what matters…

C.E. Grundler These days rising costs, abysmal employment figures, a staggering economy, and a looming debt ceiling dominate the news. There’s plenty of discussion, but in the end it comes down to this: the standard of living for the average citizen is on the decline. It’s undeniable, for most people it’s getting harder to make ends meet. And while many ponder the solutions, a small movement is growing to approach this problem from a different angle. Rather than working harder to accomplish less, some people are questioning what ends, exactly, they’re working toward. The media and marketing would like us to believe that we all can, and should, achieve the American Dream. A nice house in the suburbs decked out in the finest from Crate & Barrel, a massive SUV to race our offspring between school, soccer, and ballet, a sleek sports car to keep that kiddee hauler company, a gleaming kitchen, the latest entertainment center, and a patio for barbeques and entertaining our friends and neighbors.  It all looks so appealing in the catalogs and the commercials. What they don’t show is that you can literally work yourself to death maintaining that lifestyle, which has as much to do with impressing strangers and acquaintances as it does with our own percieved needs. After all, our needs are – or at least they should be, according to Madison Avenue – to care what everyone else thinks. Otherwise, much of the consumer culture that drives our economy would crumble and collapse. Over the last few years I’ve been working towards a different end. My goal has been to get rid of as much of my land-bound life as I can as I’ve worked to finish the restoration on my boat. I figured eventually both would converge. I’m not there yet, but making more headway by the day. Last year’s storm set me back, but it also pushed me forward in ways I never could have imagined. It gave me a great incentive to donate anything that didn’t move fast enough – I didn’t have a place to put it during reconstruction, and so many people had lost everything, so clothing, kitchenware, furniture, and whatever else was graciously welcomed.  And thanks to Sandy, I have a new roof and deck on the house, as well as new electrical and lighting, refinished floors and most of the interior repainted. That should make selling a bit easier. It’s a tricky maneuver, extracting oneself from years (decades) of striving to achieve. What to keep, what to get rid of.  That is, until you realize that many people lost everything in one night, yet never lost their spirit. And that’s when it becomes crystal clear that happiness is perfectly achievable, so long as you stay focused on what really matters. Meanwhile, on the boat end of the spectrum, I bring you (drum roll please) COMPLETELY re-cored (and very solid) decks!   This photo was taken before the final lapped ‘plank’ of 1/2 marine ply was lagged into place. Every thru-deck (cleats, fuel, water, waste lines) have been set with reinforcements that will keep water from reaching the new core.  Next, two layers of biaxial from bow to stern, and all deck leaks will have been banished!

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