Mike Jastrzebski's Blog, page 65

Here I go again!

My ride - Wild Matilda

by Christine Kling

Yup, I’m packing my bags again. It’s time to go sailing.

Talespinner is tied up to my dock here here in Fort Lauderdale waiting patiently for our trip to the Bahamas in May, and I am supposed to be staying here hard at work on the research for my new book. But I’ve found myself wandering around having difficulty concentrating, missing my dear old puppy dog, and generally feeling at loose ends. It’s not going to be the same sailing without Chip, yet I’m not ready to run out and get another dog to replace him – as if he could be replaced.

So, along came the opportunity to go sailing with my friend Bruce on Wild Matilda, his Ron Holland 43. Bruce wants to get down to the Caribbean from the Bahamas on the route that is often referred to as the Thorny Path because it is a long, hard beat to weather. He was heading out to make the trip solo, and since I am no longer punching a time clock, I volunteered to crew. I’ve been zeroing in on the ideas for the new book, been browsing on Amazon buying books and videos for research.  I can do this reading between watches just as well as I can here. So next week I’m off to do a few more miles on OPB’s – Other People’s Boats.

I have lots of reasons for wanting to make the trip, not the least of which is wanting to help out a friend and see to it that he can make the trip safely with adequate crew. Also, I hope to follow more or less the same route next year in my own boat, and this will be a good chance to check out the lay of the land – or the sea and the islands, as the case may be. And, of course, sailing on OPB’s means I can relax a bit more than I can when it’s my boat, my decisions, my cruising kitty at stake. And one of the best reasons of all is that I sailed with Bruce several times while writing Circle of Bones and he is a terrific idea sounding board who helped me no end with coming up with ideas for the last book.

I know I’m not the fastest writer in the world and while it took me five years to write Circle of Bones, I sure don’t want to spend that long on this new book. But I also know that I will never be the kind of author who writes so much and so hard that I produce more than one book a year and do nothing much else besides write. I believe that being “out there” and living the adventurous sort of life I write about helps to make my books more authentic. One of my favorite writers during the years I was growing into a writer myself, was Hammond Innes, the British thriller writer. Innes bought his 42-foot sailboat, the Mary Deare, with the money he got from selling the film rights to his novel The Wreck of the Mary Deare to MGM. For many years he would spend six months cruising with his wife Dorothy (and researching and plotting), and then six months writing the books. Later, he traveled by ship to Antarctica for a book, and on a Norwegian whaling ship for another novel. The guy wrote over 30 novels and I’ve only read about half of them. But it has always been writers like Innes and Hemingway, writers who went out and traveled and lived the adventures they wrote about – they were the writers whom I most admired.

So next week I’m flying down to Staniel Cay in the Exumas with my backpack and computer bag and jumping aboard Wild Matilda. I’m offering four weeks of my time before I’ll need to fly back here and sail my own boat to the Abacos. We will be traveling through the Southern Bahamas, Turks and Caicos and the Dominican Republic en route to Puerto Rico and the Spanish Virgins. I hope to get as far as Culebra from where I’ll fly home. Internet access is likely to be sketchy out there, so while I hope to post blogs every week, I’m not entirely sure I’ll be able to.  I might not find the bandwidth to post pictures, but I’ll have plenty when I get to Puerto Rico.

While I might not be able to upload it until the end of this trip, I hope to come home with some good video. With my cruising kitty purring these days due to Circle of Bones selling so well, my techie side decided to buy a GoPro Hero2 video camera, and I hope to get some awesome sailing and underwater footage.

Fair winds!

Christine

Author of CIRCLE OF BONES
Available for Kindle 
 
Share on Facebook

It’s covered…

No Wake Zone, that is. Not that it was an easy process. With Last Exit, I pulled my old Dodge onto the Parkway at 3 a.m., aimed the camera forward and took a few shots, along with one of the sign on the side of the road. A little tweaking with Photoshop, and there it was — my cover.

And when the folks at Thomas & Mercer came up with their version, they wanted to bring in the nautical elements of the story, which my version completely lacked. I think they captured it perfectly.

But this time around things weren’t so simple. First off, with a marketing team involved, there were an abundance of ideas, and even more opinions. Every time someone came up with something that some of us liked, others wanted something “MORE!” And while the final result might not seem to tie in with the title, it ties in perfectly with the story, and that’s what grabbed me.

This is it.  What’s the verdict?

 

Share on Facebook

It's covered…

No Wake Zone, that is. Not that it was an easy process. With Last Exit, I pulled my old Dodge onto the Parkway at 3 a.m., aimed the camera forward and took a few shots, along with one of the sign on the side of the road. A little tweaking with Photoshop, and there it was — my cover.

And when the folks at Thomas & Mercer came up with their version, they wanted to bring in the nautical elements of the story, which my version completely lacked. I think they captured it perfectly.

But this time around things weren't so simple. First off, with a marketing team involved, there were an abundance of ideas, and even more opinions. Every time someone came up with something that some of us liked, others wanted something "MORE!" And while the final result might not seem to tie in with the title, it ties in perfectly with the story, and that's what grabbed me.

This is it.  What's the verdict?

 

Share on Facebook

Beware Boat Prep Season

In boatyards across the Northeast and beyond, the arrival of spring signals it is time to ready the sanders, scrapers, and paint brushes as boaters prep for another season. Unusually warm weather and the optimism that arrives with every spring suggests that this year will be the best in recent memory. (Note to self, check this claim in 60 days.)

As I approach the season, this might be an appropriate time to visit the matter of boatyard safety. It is my hope that these words of wisdom will reach readers far and wide. With any luck, they might even even influence me. Here goes:

1) Be mindful of ladders

Did you ever notice that step ladders are marked do not stand here on the top step? There is a reason for this. As boaters, we know that you have to use that top step to get onto or off of a boat. That's indisputable. We have all been there – you're standing on the edge of the boat about to descend onto the hard and you're using your foot to find that top step. My advice? Be careful and carry no more than two sail bags and three open cans of paint when attempting this feat.

2) Take care when using extension cords.

If you're like me, you purchase several commercial grade extension cords each spring. Within days, some boatyard clepto steals them. As a result, you have to either head back to the store or use the old worn cords with broken-off ground plugs that Mr. Clepto left behind. Resist the urge, I tell you. Resist the urge or feel the surge.

3) Respect power tools

A friend and professional shipwright once told me the story of a co-worker who let a high-speed grinder brush up against his leg as it was powering down. It ripped his jeans, his skin, and a good portion of his knee. Off to the hospital he went for an extended stay. Surprisingly, the story doesn't end there. When that same shipwright recovered and went back to work, he repeated the folly, this time on the other knee. The point here is simple: some people should stay home and you might just be that person.

4) Keep your fingers away from table saws

This is an elevated version of #3 above. I remember reading a safety article in Wooden Boat magazine several years ago. The author told of losing the tip of his finger while cutting wood on his table saw. The part I remember most about the article was that the author couldn't find the sheared-off tip. Without the end piece, he lost any hope of an emergency room reconnection. The author wrote that he was back in the shop sometime later. (No, this isn't a case of another repeat incident.) He was working away when he noticed that his dog kept gnawing at something wedged in between planks on the wall of his shop. He wondered what his pup was up to, then he realized what happened. Yup, Fido found the finger. To this day, that image helps me. Maybe it will help you, too.

See you 'round the boatyard.

Share on Facebook

Know your guns before you put them in your protagonist's hands

The recent news headlines out of South Florida got me to thinking about handguns. I am an endangered species in that I am a liberal Democrat that supports the right to own guns. But that's for another time. This time I am thinking about the reality of guns and what they do and what they sound like and what they feel like when shot, when empty, when loaded and how the writer has a responsibility to portray that in his/her writing.

As a writer of mysteries, there's a lot of gun used in my books and stories. I am fortunate to have a trained military intel person, as well as police  and deputy sheriffs to go to for help and they often points out my errors.

"But I saw it on TV," or "That's what the website said," are usually two of my stock comebacks.

When I moved to Key West onto my sailboat, from smoggy Southern California, I sold or gave away my few guns since there was no gun range in Key West and not much room on Mustard Seed.

About two years ago, The Big Coppitt Gun Club opened and I have taken advantage of it for shooting and the owner's knowledge of guns, as a backup source. I now have a few handguns that often appear in my books and when my characters shoot them, I know what I'm writing about.

There are things I write about that are the result of research and corroboration. The firing of guns is more personal than racing a car at 100 mph on US1, even if it's a replica of the car Steve McQueen used in Bullet. If you can race the car, do it. If you can't, find someone that has. A Monroe County Deputy Sheriff would be a good place to start, since most of US1 is 45 mph and in a few places 55 mph. I have chapters of that event happening on the seven-mile bridge, in "Car Wash Blues," due out in August from Five Star. Someone I know really did it and we talked. I won't drive with him!

Anyway, my point is, if you use guns in your story and, especially, if your protagonist is not a law enforcement officer, you should know how he/she feels when pulling the trigger; and I don't mean about shooting someone. A frail 80-year old man isn't going to shoot a .45 cal automatic without some consequences. An inexperienced 18-year old isn't going to shoot the .45 and not be surprised (as well as miss his target) at the kick.

Learn a little about the various caliber handguns and find the one that fits your protagonist. On the other hand, what about all the other people in your stories that use guns? Not everyone uses the .45. My preference is the 9mm Sig Sauer, but my array of good guys and bad guys use revolvers as well as automatics in other calibers.

Glocks, Sigs, Colts, Rugers, there's no end to the number of handguns on the market and you should know which one will work for you character and some of its traits. Knowing the reputation of a certain brand will keep you from using a cheaply made replica of a Glock and know what caliber your gun is. Many come in a variety of calibers. Glocks come in 9mm, 40 cal & 45 cal. The Sig has a model that can switch between 9mm and 40 cal with little effort.

Did you know that Glocks & Sigs don't have safeties? Their trigger pressure is higher than a Ruger, which has a safety. With the safety off, the Ruger requires very little trigger pressure to shoot. Glocks and Sigs require more trigger pressure to shoot. Good to know this, if there's an physical altercation while one or more people are holding a handgun. Being knowledgeable about guns will make your story more honest and gun buffs less likely to write and explain why what you did couldn't be done!

Do you use a real city or town in your stories? If you do, you'd better know what weapons the police of sheriff's department issue to its officers. If you get it wrong, someone will let you know and you may have lost that reader because of your inaccuracies.

The military has a 20mm cartridge that is used in fighter jets. It will penetrate certain items, such as a boat hull, and then explode like a grenade. A couple of countries make sniper rifles that shoot the cartridge. Capacity is three-round magazine and the rifle has to be on a tripod because its recoil is so strong. Lots to know. Now, I didn't get to shoot a 20mm round, but my military intel guy got me specifics and there were videos on the internet! The bad guys use this 20mm sniper rifle in "Car Wash Blues."

If you already search the web for research, it's no surprise what is on there. Check out the DEA, CIA, JIATF, JSOCK and you'll be surprised at what you find. I was! And you thought it was all secret stuff. If you find something on the weaponry your protagonist is using, keep checking, and double check your checking. The web is as good as any place to begin your research into handguns and rifle, but don't stop there, go to the experts.

Okay, your protagonist carries a 9mm Sig. In what? Stuck in the back of his pants like all the good guys do on TV? Get a Sig, not mine, sorry, stick it between your belt and backbone and make a mad dash down the driveway and see what happens. Looks good on TV, but unless you're using  the right holster the guns gonna drop. How heavy is it to just fit between your belt and back and not be a bother? Try it and find out.

For ladies, a gun in the purse is useless. Well, it gives the perp a weapon once he/she has your purse, but that isn't your purpose. Maybe in could be in your story.

Women I know like the 'pocket' guns. Usually a .32 or .380 automatic. It's small, light and, as it says, it fits into your pocket. If your female protagonist wears dresses or skirts all the time, I don't know what to tell you. Find an ankle holster that will adjust to her thigh. Who knows, maybe they make holster for that.

To help make a short blog longer, let me tell you of my mistake in "Free Range Institution." Thankfully, it was caught by my military intel guy.

I'd read and seen TV news reports on scooter assassins in Colombia and how Pablo Escobar used them to kill his enemies. I brought a drug gang to Key West in the book and in an attempt to kill Mick Murphy they use two scooter assassins to chase him, Tita and two military men through old town.

I forget the weapons I chose for them, but when the chapters came back from my source, he'd written "would topple scooter." I called him. He explained and I went with his suggestion of using an Uzi because all you need to do is point and shoot. The Uzi will spray 30-rounds instantly and that makes it a good scooter-assassin's weapon. It also comes with magazine holding up to 50-rounds. Point and shoot!

We write mysteries and we kill people. Do it right! Get experience, talk to experts – I don't suggest you murder your neighbor or significant other, but do suggest real research on the matter.

Most gun ranges rent weapons and have a knowledgeable staff. Tell them you're a writer, and you need to find the right weapon for this or that, and you might be surprised how helpful they are. Everyone likes to feel like an expert and the go to person for a writer. Believe me, it works.

Get a feel for the weapons in your books. Discover why gun ranges – indoor like mine or outdoor like my intel's in NC – make you wear ear protection. Once you've become familiar with the feel and sounds, next time a TV or movie shows an indoor gun fight, even only a few shots, and then everyone is talk about something you'll find yourself thinking, "man, they'd be deaf as a rock after that." You don't want your readers saying things like that about you.

This is between us, so keep it under your hat. My military intel guy is going to be the guest speaker at the May 19th Mystery Writers of America, Florida Chapter's luncheon. That's what he told me this past weekend when he was in town. We discussed his talk and believe me, it's going to be interesting. He mentioned that when he got into the intel side of the military, fiction was way ahead with its ideas. Today, he says the intel agencies are waiting for fiction writers to catch up! He has some great stories, but I'm just glad he's not writing fiction!

Bonus question: what's a clip and what's a magazine. Which goes where.

It's a common error in books, TVs, and movies. Do you make it? I did, once!

My books are available on Amazon.com, the Kindle Store, or at my website: www.michaelhaskins.net.

Share on Facebook

17 days and counting

By Mike Jastrzebski

We scheduled Rough Draft's haulout for April 25th, seventeen short days away. We haven't hauled the boat or painted the bottom since we arrived in Ft. Lauderdale 6 years ago so it's definitely time. If all goes as planned we hope to have the bottom painted and be out of the yard no later than May 1st. Of course I can't remember the last time things went as planned on the boat.

We've been working on the canvas since we got back from our trip to Minnesota. I'm glad to say that the dodger's done and all Mary has left to do is make a connecting piece between the dodger and bimini. She also wants to put a small window in the bimini so we can keep an eye on the sails when the centerpiece is connected.

Here's a picture of Mary, the dodger, and the bmini. Keep in mind that before she started on this project she had not sewn anything since high school home ec, and that was a long time ago.

We have basically 2 1/2 weeks to finish 12 weeks worth of work, and lets face it that isn't going to happen. We're still determined to head over to the Bahamas around May 15th, buddy boating with Christine Kling. Any boat work not finished by then will remain unfinished until we head back to the states for the hurricane season.

Once in the Bahamas I will begin researching and writing the next Wes Darling novel, Abaco Blues. I did a lot of the work on Dog River Blues (A Wes Darling Mystery) while living on a mooring ball in Key West and I enjoyed the freedom and sense of isolation of living on a boat in the midde of a harbour. The joy of living on the water is why I titled this blog Write on the Water, and subtitled it, So you want to quit your job, move onto a boat, and write. It's the dream that's kept Mary and I going for the last fifteen years.

// ]]>

Amazon.com Widgets

Share on Facebook

A Leap of Faith

by Christine Kling

I know I often write about my adventures with boats and bikes and my attempts to live simply, but tonight, it is another adventure that is on my mind. I haven't written about the sales of Circle of Bones, and I guess the time has come to share that story with you.

I often refer back to the sub-title of this blog because it is the story of my life. I quit my job and moved onto my boat to become a full-time writer and sailor. It took a huge leap of faith to do that, and over the past few months, I've had many occasions to wonder if I'd done the right thing in taking that risk. I've written here for two years about my efforts to finish this novel Circle of Bones – in fact, it was the readers of this blog who helped me pick the title of the book. I wrote about my vain search to find a new agent to represent me and my new book, and how I felt that nobody wanted it (or me), not even my editor at Ballantine. I've written about my struggles with the decision to self-publish and the difficulties of learning how to format an indie book.

Finally, after five years of working on this book, I published the ebook of Circle of Bones on December 19 before I left to bring my boat down the ICW from New Bern.  In January, I sold about 70 copies, and in February, it was around 90. I studied the market, and though I had no money for advertising, I found I had some free ad credits on Facebook and Google AdSense, and I created ads and worked hard at tweaking the book's description trying to improve my sales. I wrote to book bloggers to get reviews, and I ran a contest on Goodreads. Then, having seen the success that Mike J and John Urban had with the Kindle Select program, I decided to give that a try in March.

On March 10 when I  began three days of giving my book away free, I had sold a grand total of 62 copies so far that month. I had spent days writing to every site I could find that listed free books, and I bought one ad for $40 that was a Social Media Buzz package. I decided not to use this blog or the usual writers' sites. Instead, I looked for sailors and readers, and I used Facebook and Twitter. Over the next three days, Circle of Bones was downloaded by over 37,400 readers. It made it to the #2 spot on the Amazon Top 100 Free list. Sales started slowly after the free days, but by the third day, my book had climbed to #20 on the Amazon paid bestseller list. By the end of March, I had sold 7,900 copies of the book.

It has now been three and a half weeks since my free days, and Bones is still ranked at #272 on Amazon and has sold 765 copies in the first five days of this month. Why? I don't know. I worked hard to make my book the absolute best it could be, refused to be in a rush, and then I hired private editors and professional cover artists – but others have done the same and not had the same success, so I acknowledge that a huge part of it is just plain damn luck.

But you know, I'm not wondering anymore whether I did the right thing by quitting my day job and taking that leap of faith. I'm just wondering how long it's going to take me to write the next book featuring the adventures of Riley and Cole – The Dragon's Triangle.

Fair winds!

Christine Kling

Author of CIRCLE OF BONES
Available for Kindle 

p.s.  I have also written about my Desire to Acquire new technology, and I'll bet you'll never guess what my first purchase was – yup, a new iPad.

Share on Facebook

Moving forward by looking back…

Above: Alcatraz's Hybrid Tour Boat

C.E. Grundler

I'll admit it wasn't easy, giving up the wind for a diesel engine. The sailor part of my brain still cringes at the thought, and while I've vowed that Annabel Lee *will* sport a mast and sail before I'm done, I know they're only to dampen her tendency to roll like an inebriated Weeble and for my own personal tastes – at least I'll have some sort of sail, which is better than none. But that doesn't change the fact that her propulsion is mechanical rather than wind, and by design that's something I can't alter. And even though she sips a mere gallon an hour, the less carbon footprints I can leave in my wake, the more I'll enjoy my time on the water. But I have a plan, or rather, stages of a plan, and those actually weighed into my decision to buy this very boat to begin with.

First off, the naturally aspirated 4 cylinder, 80 hp Lehman diesel is a perfect candidate for conversion to biodiesel. Diesel engines were originally designed to run on vegetable based fuel and do very well on converted waste cooking oil, though these days science is turning to algae as a new source of biofuels, and biodiesel users report cleaner, better running engines. The issues, conversion-wise, involve concerns with standard fuel lines and gaskets designed to handle petroleum based fuels, as well as biodiesel's cleaning properties, which can lead to clogged fuel filters as the new fuel breaks up residues left behind from years of petrol products. But with every passing day more resources become available to simplify conversion, so once I clear up most of the other major projects onboard, I'll turn my attention to this endeavor. But even as I continue my research, I've found myself considering a second, quite intriguing, (though initially more expensive) alternative – going hybrid.

Electric motors have existed in boats long before Henry Ford was cranking out Model Ts; in fact, Elco Yachts was using electric drives in the launches back in 1893, and electric motors, charged by a diesel engine, powered submarines through WWII. Diesel-electric transmissions are a proven system in trains and ships as well. Elco still offers marine electric engines, both in new boats as well as to retrofit into existing boats up to 50 feet, and they're not the only one. Electric engines can run as straight electrical, or can be combined with a diesel engine, solar panels and wind turbines to keep the batteries topped off. With the displacement hull and easily adaptable engine room, a change like this would be simple. The way I see it, a nice electric motor, combined with a diesel, a wind generator, and a hardtop of solar panels over the bridge should keep my little boat moving along quite cleanly and greenly into the future.

For more on electric/hybrid systems, check out this month's BoatU.S. Magazine article: Run Silent, Run Green

Share on Facebook

Book Buying Mode

I am offshore at the moment and unavailable to respond to comments. For a picture of my yacht ride see my blog.

I am preparing to head off on delivery again. This time I am off to the Leeward Islands on a schooner. Before I set sail I once again am in book buying mode. It is always a good thing to have something to read while offshore and keep you awake during twilight watches. If you are interested in market feedback on how at least one person (me) bought his recent round off novels, read on.

Of course I have purchased and read all the books of everyone here at Write on the Water, so I went searching for something different. I have always been partial to classics. Combining that with my determination to learn Español, I went online searching for such eBooks. To make it even more difficult, I decided to see what I could find gratis.

The Result

I came across many websites and blogs with personal free libraries of books usually in PDF form. I was surprised. It was like wandering through living rooms of the world, each with a happy reader offering his favorite novels. It struck me as such a natural extension of offline interpersonal interactions bleeding online. People with not only little libraries but reviews, comments, and blogs about the novels.

In the end I decided after online information overload, I would go back to my iBooks app on the iPad. I found a few free Jose Marti books in español free via the Guttenburg Project. Because of el mas reciente viaje del Papa a Cuba, I have become interested in the Cuban poet. Any body have an opinion of his works?

My takeaways were the power of personal, real world recommendations guiding my choice versus internet ones as well as the wide availability of free eBooks.

Share on Facebook

Changing faces

In November of last year I published my fourth book, titled Weep No More. Unfortunately it has been the slowest selling of all of my books. I've tried advertising, givaways, lowering and raising the price, blogging, all to no avail. The book just hasn't taken off. As a result I've decided to change the face of the book completely; new cover, new title.

The new title of the book is Mind Demons.

The book is a psychological thriller and here's the blurb:

A hedonistic killer clashes with a dedicated investigator in this psychological thriller about the abuse of power and the hidden demons that torment the lives of ordinary people.

Linda Morgan investigates psychotherapists who are having sex with their clients. The job is bizarre, but not particularly dangerous — at least until the day she discovers she's being stalked. Is it one of the therapists she's investigating? Her ex-husband? The new boyfriend?

Here's the new cover

I'd be glad to here what you think about the new title and cover.

Amazon.com Widgets

Share on Facebook