Mike Jastrzebski's Blog, page 8

Nautical language

Painting from the Malta Maritime Museum

by Christine Kling

I am on a research rant today. I have a love/hate relationship with the historical aspect of this series I’m writing. The photos I took while we were in Malta and Turkey have been a huge help with this book — like when I write scenes that take place in 1798 on the very dock pictured above, I just look at that painting and it help my imagination create that world for my characters.

It’s always been important to me to get the language right in the books I write, especially the nautical language. I hate it when I read sailing books and the authors prove how little they know about boats. But now, I am writing more historical chapters in my novels, and it’s very difficult to figure out what they called these things back in the 18th century on boats that are far different than anything I’ve ever sailed on.

So, with this blog post I’m am seeking help from the collective wisdom of our sailor readers. I’m asking for help with my research on the new book. You see, while I know pretty well what to call the parts of the boats I’ve sailed on, I’ve never sailed on a xebec like those picture above or the one shown in this photo of a model in the Malta Maritime Museum.

I know enough to say that it is a lateen rig, but would you call the spars on the sails yards or booms or some other word entirely? And this model above shows a tiller on this vessel. Really? I thought they had wheels on most boats in the 1700’s. Here is a close-up of the aft deck.

Imagine the strength it would take to move that tiller in rough seas! I want to put a wheel on my boat, so that a young woman can steer it. Generally, wheels used blocks to give a mechanical advantage. I’ve steered smaller boats both with a tiller and a wheel and I know how difficult it is to stand even a two-hour watch while steering a boat in heavy seas with a tiller. I haven’t been able to find a photo of a xebec on the web that has a clear enough picture of the after deck to know if any of them had wheels.

And what did they call that aft deck there? Was it the quarterdeck or the poop deck?

The deeper I get into this historical tale, the more I ask myself, why do I have to make it so hard on myself. Will anyone really notice if I get it wrong a few times? The problem is — I will.

So, help me if you can. If you can let me know if they used a wheel on these vessels or what you called all the parts of the rigging, post it in the comments, please. Until then, I’m back to work on this draft.

Fair winds!

Christine

 

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Good News Everyone!

C.E. Grundler

I’m going to keep this short, because there’s way too much to explain. I’ll throw in some links for anyone curious and adventurous, or maybe looking for a unique and obscure way to torture or kill a character.

You all may have noticed a reoccuring theme creeping into my posts over the last year: ‘undefined medical issues.’ Undefined because no one really knew what was wrong, but for years the random syncope (the medical term for your brain hitting the ‘and now you’re unconscious’ switch) was manageable. Not so much anymore, to the point that work on the boat ground to a complete halt, and it was taking a toll on my writing, which is why my third book progressed so slowly. And then it got really bad, but let’s just say it wasn’t pleasant, and skip that part.

The good news is one doctor finally connected the dots, and here’s where we ended up. I have an autonomic dysfunction (aka: Dysautonomia) brought on by what appears to be adrenal insufficiency, (Click the links for all the fun details — they’re fascinating.) and my body wasn’t properly retaining sodium. Bodies need salt to function. Without enough salt, dehydration follows. Everything from the brain on down starts shutting down, and that isn’t pretty. There’ll be more testing in the coming weeks to figure out what underlying condition is causing this, but now we’re getting somewhere, including a treatment.

Fludrocortisone. One unassuming little white pill, but with it, my body can process sodium. Blood pressure is up to a nice normal level, stable, and for the first time in longer than I can recall fresh blood is reaching the top floors. The dizziness, the fatigue, the brain-fog — they’re all gone. It’s like being on No-Doz to the tenth power, less any caffiene-jitters. I’m up and writing at five in the morning, because I wake rested and full of energy. I’m writing till all hours of the night, stopping not because I’m tired but because I’m not going to let myself burn the candle at both ends. But I feel as though I’ve got my life back. And this weekend, work on the boat resumes, at long last. And oh is it great to have my brain cells back!

And for all you Futurama fans, I leave you with a little Hypnotoad.

ALL HAIL HYPNOTOAD

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Wrapping it up.

By Mike Jastrzebski

I’m trying to wrap up my final edit of Stranded Naked Blues and I’m having a little problem with something that doesn’t affect most writers. You see, it’s cloudy today and the solar panels just don’t keep up with the electrical output when the sun is hiding. This means that I have to run the generator for at least 3 hours so that the batteries will charge enough to fill our energy needs for the day.

It’s a small generator, a Honda 2000, and it’s relatively quiet, but it’s still there. I have it mounted on top of the cabin and even with headphones on and my favorite oldies playing on my iPod the generator is distracting. You see, it’s not just the noise, it’s the vibration. The door to my wood heater rattles, the tea kettle on top of the stove rattles, in fact just about anyplace where two metallic items touch rattles, and let’s not talk about the vibration that seems to run up my body to my head.

I guess what I’m trying to get at, is that those of you who wish you could trade places and live on the hook should think about what you’re asking for. This isn’t a bad thing, but remember that there are always trade offs.

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Home again

Home again!

by Christine Kling

We made it back to Majuro after very long layovers in San Francisco and Hawaii. We left Ontario, California at noon on Sunday and arrived here around noon on Tuesday.

Not fair! We lost a day by crossing the International Dateline.

Then I remembered that for my deadline of April 15th, I get it back. I don’t have to deliver until the 16th.

I love flying in over the atoll. You can really see the way these islands are like a necklace of small islands atop a coral reef. The white waves are on the ocean side and few shallows are on the lagoon side. Most of the lagoon is over 100 feet deep. That’s why we are usually on a mooring here. Some of the gossip upon our return was of two different boats having moorings break. Scary stuff when you leave your boat unattended on a mooring. But all was well with LEARNATIVITY. Now Wayne is hard at work doing the dozens of little jobs that we must do to get the boat ready for a passage after over a year of sitting here in Majuro. If all goes according to plan, we hope to be en route to Fiji by May.

The deadline has me working like crazy — so much in fact that I was up at midnight last night, so I got to enjoy the full eclipse of the moon.

But also so much that this blog and next week’s will be super short. If only writing were as easy as typing. There’s still so much that I’ve yet to figure out about this story. But I am jamming.

Wish me luck!

Fair winds!

Christine

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Block out some free time…

C.E. Grundler

This’ll be short, because I’m swamped, and honestly, nothing I can think of right now is all that post-worthy, writing or boat-wise. Much of my week’s been more fun in medical-land, though I may be making some headway — time will tell.  But I’d like to share a site I discovered the other day: http://clevergirlhelps.tumblr.com

It’s full of fun and unique insights into writing, as well as some great resources and links.  But don’t expect to take it all in through one sitting, if you want to get anything else done.

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Disney – Mystery Writers of America Theme Park

by John M. Urban

Building off the success of Universal Studio’s Harry Potter theme park, Disney and The Mystery Writer’s of America (MWA) have announced the creation of a new Orlando theme park attraction based on the works of leading popular mystery writers.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, which opened at Universal in June of 2010, has been an enormous success. Universal expanded the Harry Potter theme park in late 2011 and again in 2014, adding Dragon Challenge, a pair of inverted roller coasters, a new family roller coaster, and a 3D dark ride/simulator based on Gringotts Bank. Well over $200 million has gone into the 20 acre site and it has become one of the prime revenue generators in the lucrative Orlando.

Disney’s partnership with MWA is seen as a needed response to what is a highly competitive business.

MWA Land of Mystery will be built in two phases, the first will involve re-purposing some existing rides, the second brand-new phase set for completion in late 2016.The MWA theme park is located in the north east corner of Epcot and when launched next month it will feature rides and attractions capturing the worlds of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum, Elmore Leonard’s Jackie Brown, Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone, Agatha Christie’s Poirot, and Robert Parker’s Spencer, all as part of Phase-One construction.

The Agatha Chrtisie ride is a remarkable reenactment that takes you on a captivating experience aboard The Orient Express with Inspector Hercule Poirot.

Robert Parker readers likely know that the author was a huge fan of roller coasters, and he certainly would have enjoyed the one bearing his name as it climbs a peak modeled after Bunker Hill, dives down into a double twist that resembles Boston’s Sumner Tunnel and passes other sites, familiar to readers, with 3D images of Spencer, Susan and Hawk.

(The Spencer Coaster)

The Disney Imagineers were able to create outdoor environments for almost all of the exhibits. For example, Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum is featured with a zip-wire that takes you over a re-creation of New Jersey with depictions from the Meadowlands to Trenton that incorporate live action scenes below featuring the characters of Plum, Morelli, Ranger, Grandma Mazur, and, of course, an exploding car.

(Disney’s Janet Evanovich Zip-wire takes you above the world of Stephanie Plum)

Disney believes that its biggest attraction will be the Stephen King Cyclone Coaster, a modern, exceptionally fast roller coaster that is modelled to look like a remnant from an old Maine theme park featured in one of King’s first books. According to Disney’s spokesperson, Wendy Pan, “We’ve had some people refuse to get on the ride because they fear that it’s run-down, but looks can be deceiving, and once people ride on the Cyclone they come back again and again.”

Fans of Michael Connelly will be pleased to know that Disney is blending both the Harry Bosch and Mickey Haller series. When asked about the ride, Connelly told the LA Times, “I’ve taken the ride many times myself and I couldn’t be happier with the level of verisimilitude established by Disney.”

(A 12-minute ride through the scenes of Micheal Connelly’s books via a simulation of Mickey Haller’s Lincoln Towncar)

(Patrons waiting in line at the Disney/MWA Lincoln Lawyer Ride)

Some readers will be disappointed that their favorite authors aren’t included. For example, Chandler, Hammett, and Poe were, in the eyes of Disney, too dated. In addition, Ian Fleming’s James Bond won’t be there either, as the intellectual property rights were previously committed. But that’s not to say that more writers won’t be added as plans for the park expand.

According to the Orlando Sentinal, one such author is Dennis Lehane who confirmed that his agent is in discussions with Disney. The Sentinal reports Lehane as saying, “We looked at Mystic River, but the execs at Disney shied away from the content. The same for Shutter Island. But we figured out a way to make it work.” Lehane, who has long credited the Hardy Boys as an early influence, is said to be releasing a young-adult series in 2016 coinciding with a new Disney attraction by the same name.

A James Patterson ride is currently being designed and Disney watchers expect that this will be a marketing centerpiece. James Patterson himself was brought in to work with designers on every detail. Patterson, who resides in Florida, spent a full morning with Disney architects and several Patterson co-writers have moved to Orlando to finalize the particulars.

News reports indicate that several planned rides were replaced due to Disney’s extensive consumer research. Two examples of this turn-about resulted when Disney’s marketing department excluded Robert Crais and Carl Hiaasen after focus groups revealed that customers struggled repeatedly when attempting to pronounce the authors’ names. Crais wasn’t available for comment, nor was Hiaasen, who is reportedly working on a re-release of his book Native Tongue.

According to Disney’s EVP for New Project Development, Jim N. E. Cricket, they were even able to work in a dynamic ride for new independent writers. A double cyclone coaster was created in partnership with Amazon in which riders sit on a flat car shaped like a Kindle Reader. A back rest comes up for support, belting you in, and in seconds you are shot out at 60 miles per hour, passing real-time cover images from the Amazon Best Seller list.

In addition, we are pleased to announce that under a special agreement between the Mystery Writers of America and Disney, for a limited time only, Disney is opening its entire park to any reader of Write On The Water who brings a printed out version of this April 1st blog posting.

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Wed on the water

by Christine Kling

With sailboats and square riggers in the background, on Saturday, aboard the California Princess in San Diego harbor, I wed Wayne on the water. (Try saying that three times fast without sounding like Elmer Fudd). We had a great time with sixty friends, family, kids and dogs in attendance.

Ruby and Barney might have gotten married as well. At least they were dressed for it.

 

As proof that I married someone who is just as much of a tech geek as I am, as part of his vows, Wayne read a poem – off his phone – while someone raised their mainsail in the background.

 

 

Then during the reception, Wayne showed on the big monitor how he had employed CAD 3D modeling to design our mobius strip wedding rings and then had them 3D printed in wax for lost wax casting in white gold. When was the last time you saw that at a wedding?

We went completely paperless using an app for our wedding invitations, and instead of hiring a professional photographer, we asked our guests to be our photographers. We encouraged them to use a free app called Wedpics which they could download directly to their  smart phones, and if they used the app during the wedding, the photos were uploaded to the site in real time. Friends who were not able to attend were able to see some photos as the event took place. There are now over 600 photos on the site and people keep adding more. If you want to take a look at Wayne and Christine’s wedding album click here.

Wayne asked me to choose the song we danced to for our first dance. He gave me a list, but I didn’t get any farther than this song, Lucky sung by Jason Mraz & Colbie Caillat. If you listen to the lyrics, you will see why.

Wayne and I met through a post I made on this blog, and we started by talking (via email and then Skype) across the sea. I cannot get over how incredibly lucky I have been in the past year and a half as we traveled in the South Pacific and Europe. And now, I really did get to marry my best friend.

We get to go back home to the boat in Majuro on Sunday, and while I have asked for and received a bit of an extension, the book is now due April 15, so I need to stop scrolling through the wedding pics and get back to work!

Fair winds!

Christine

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Third time’s the charm…

C.E. Grundler

It’s been that kind of week. Let’s see. I saw one crocus yesterday, many weeks late, pressing its way through the mud and melting snow, kicking off the start of MUD SEASON.  Yippee.

Boat work – pending. Last Saturday the world looked, yet again, like a Currier and Ives Christmas scene. Not that I was shoveling my way down to the boatyard. I’m supposed to monitor my blood pressure, which normally tends to run low, often in the 90’s over 70’s.  That’s normal for me. 80/55  is not. So more visits to the cardiologist, and several more ‘ists’ of one variety or another in the days to come. If anyone has any thoughts, theories, or insights, I’d love to hear them. I really, really would.

The silver lining to all this frustrating down-time is that it leaves me oodles of writing time. And while I’m waaaaay behind schedule for getting Evacuation Route wrapped up, I’ve been making headway fast, and loving every second of this story…at last. Two days ago I wrapped up my second read-through/edits, which left a bloodbath of cut chapters, dead darlings and a stack of notes, back-track reminders, and whatnot that I’ll be cleaning up and shuffling into order. When I started this book I worked off what I’d taught myself in the first two, which, to be honest, wasn’t a whole lot.

It wasn’t long before writing stopped being fun and got hard — way harder than I ever imagined, and if I didn’t like what I was writing, how could I expect anyone to enjoy what I’d written? I had a choice: give up, keep beating the same dead horse, or scratch it and start over. What to do? Well, Sandy answered that, flattening round one of Evacuation Route with one large tree in the middle of my home.  I wasn’t happy with the story or how it was unfolding, and truth be told, even at the time I had a feeling that oak had done me a favor, writing-wise, at least.

Through the months of rebuilding I kept telling myself I was starting over with the book, not that I was ever entirely convinced. Before the storm I’d been trying to project the theoretical damage, had Irene made a direct hit. Sandy solved that as well, and provided me more material than my first manuscript could absorb. Trying to merge the new ideas into the old was yielding something unmanageable. Actually, ‘Train Wreck’ was my name for it, and finally, I made the grim decision to scrap Round 2.

I wasn’t throwing in the towel. Far from it. But I knew if I couldn’t make this work — not the story so much as my writing methods — I might as well admit defeat. So this time, before I dove back in I decided to give myself a crash course in REALLY writing, devouring everything I could get my hands on, dissecting different approaches for going from concept to completion in the most effective and efficient way, telling a fluid, cohesive and entirely unsettling tale of murder, mayhem, and psychological — uhm, let’s just call them ‘problems’.  I analyzed what worked for more prolific writers I admired and what would work for me, efficiency-wise. I figured out what was and wasn’t working. I found new ways to herd these cats — I mean characters — and everything began to fall into place. I decided that rather than try to sort out the mangled remains of the first two rounds, I would simply ignore everything I’d written to that point and start fresh. From that emerged Evacuation Route, Round 3. And while I would rather not have taken the scenic route to this point, the trip was a necessary one and the knowledge I gained along the way was invaluable.

So now it’s back to Book Three, round three, edit number three. I’ll let you all know how it works out.

Oh, yeah. And 80/55. Any insights, anyone?

 

 

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And the winning cover is!

By Mike Jastrzebski

Before I go any further I want to say that picking a cover for Stranded Naked Blues was hard. 38 designers submitted 318 cover designs. Now this included revisions on some covers, but still, that’s a lot of covers to decide between.

So what did I do? First, I turned to my wife Mary for help. We selected two covers by the same designer. One was for Stranded Naked Blues, the other was for a new cover for The Storm Killer. I held two polls over two weeks and many of our friends and blog readers contributed their opinions. By far the greatest number of votes went to the cover we chose for The Storm Killer. We chose this cover for The Storm Killer because the book is a darker thriller than Stranded Naked Blues.

We chose the running man cover for Stranded Naked Blues because the book is slightly humorous, like Key Lime Blues and Dog River Blues, and we felt this cover is a better fit with the other covers in the series. Here’s the cover and the other covers in the series.

Stranded Naked Blues will be available shortly.

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Wanted: Used Snark

C.E. Grundler

I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve read Christine’s post from the other day, composing comments in my head that never reached the screen. Let’s start with a belated Happy Birthday, Christine, and I hope you had a great one. And I hope the conference turned out to be less stress-inducing than you imagined.

Believe me, I get it. While I haven’t logged anything close to the nautical miles Christine has, her trepidation upon stepping into a crowded social situation and that overwhelming desire to slip quietly away (or run screaming, at least internally) is something I can relate to in many ways. I’ve always considered myself a reasonably brave (insane?) person, always open to any opportunity for adventure. From my earliest sailing days, I quickly learned that the nastier it was, the more fun I had in my little styrofoam Snark, modified with a tiller extension, upgraded blocks and a hiking rig. The boat weighed about as much as a half-empty ice chest that had been fitted with a centerboard and rudder. I wasn’t much heavier, so I could skim across the rough waves like a maniac, determined to see just how much air I could catch between each crest.  I don’t think my parents appreciated it, but the uglier the water got, the harder it was to get me back to shore. There’s something to be said for a light, relatively indestructable, unsinkable boat, and when you’re small (both me and the boat) the wide stretch of Hudson can become an endless ocean…at least until they sent my brother in the dinghy to herd me back, because clearly I wasn’t hearing them blasting the horns. Couldn’t they see I was trying to round Cape Horn? But I knew it was head in, or lose sailing privileges, so the next game became ‘high-speed chase’, relatively speaking, while I outran that 3 hp Evinrude powered pursuit boat back to home port. I didn’t want to go back. I wanted to stay out there forever…or at least until I got too hungry or cold. Just me and the boat, out on the open water, alone.

I’ve never been one for crowds. Crowds mean people. Lots of people, all bustling and chattering and mingling. For me, anything over six people in a room equals a crowd. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not shy, and I have no problem speaking with anyone. I’m confident and self-assured, and people seem to find me interesting — a little more interesting than I’d prefer at times.  For me, it’s not about any fear or self-consciousness. It’s just that I never really got that social interaction thing down in those critical years. Even then I could care less who was cool or who thought I was weird, because everyone, including me, knew I was. I was far happier alone, rather than attempting to play nice with the other schoolyard humans. That’s just me, and I’d probably live out my life never caring, if not for that ‘other’ part of being a writer, when us happy introverts are expected to emerge from our coccoons of self-imposed isolation and blossom into social butterflies. And each time I read Christine’s post I shudder the slightest bit, knowing once I’ve finished editing I’m going to have to face that gauntlet of ‘being social’, both online and in person. Writing favors the introverts, but marketing and promotion calls for a much different set of social skills. I’m ever amazed by those authors who embrace the spotlight, the signings and interactions, and I know I’ll have a steep re-learning curve to ease myself back onto the playground. It makes me want to see if anyone is selling an old Snark.

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