Q & A with D.G. Kaye, featuring Author Liesbet Collaert and ‘Plunge’

Welcome to December Q & A. Today I’m excited to be featuring friend and new published author with her brand new book – Plunge: One Woman’s Pursuit of a Life Less Ordinary. Liesbet is literally ‘a world traveler’. She currently travels on land around the America’s with her husband and dog, but Liesbet has traveled for many years to many places, including a few years at ocean and seas on a boat(s). Can you only imagine the stories Liesbet has to tell? Well I can because I’ve almost finished reading her book, and I’m just going to say that I love it, because I’ll be writing a review soon. So today we’re going to get some insights about Liesbet’s life of travel and how she managed to write and publish a book in her traveling life – often without internet.     About Liesbet: Liesbet Collaert is a bilingual freelance writer, translator, editor, and photographer from Belgium who has been writing and traveling her entire life. Her work is published internationally in anthologies and magazines, including Cruising World, Blue Water Sailing, Ocean Navigator, Eldridge Tide and Pilot Book, Islands, Yachting World, Sailing Today, All At Sea, Caribbean Compass, and Zeilen. She also created walking tours for Marigot and Philipsburg in St. Martin. The author has been interviewed about her alternative lifestyle by Multihull Sailor, Modern Day Nomads, Ocean Navigator, The Wayward Home, The Professional Hobo, and Grey Globetrotters among others. She contributed to extensive cruising surveys for All At Sea and Caribbean Compass and became an assistant-editor for Caribbean Compass in January 2019. Liesbet loves animals, nature, and the promise of adventure. A nomad since 2003, she calls herself a world citizen and currently lives “on the road” in North America with her husband and rescue dog. Find her stories and photos at www.itsirie.com and www.roamingabout.com. Plunge is her first book.   Get this book here on Amazon #NewRelease   Blurb: Tropical waters turn tumultuous in this travel memoir, as a free-spirited woman jumps headfirst into a sailing adventure with a new man and his two dogs. Join Liesbet as she faces a decision that sends her into a whirlwind of love, loss, and living in the moment. When she swaps life as she knows it for an uncertain future on a sailboat, she succumbs to seasickness and a growing desire to be alone. Guided by impulsiveness and the joys of an alternative lifestyle, she must navigate personal storms, trouble with US immigration, adverse weather conditions, and doubts about her newfound love. Does Liesbet find happiness? Will the dogs outlast the man? Or is this just another reality check on a dream to live at sea? ### Have you ever wondered how life could be if you had made different choices? If you didn’t marry early, commit to a large loan for the house, focus on your career, start a family? Maybe you’re just curious about how a person thinking outside the box manages? A person without boundaries, striving to be flexible, happy, and free. What you are about to read is how one such person follows her dreams, no, her intuition, and how she survives her naivety, life altering twists, and a relationship in close quarters. Plunge is a story of what happens when you go with the flow, when you have a bright idea – or thought you had one – and ride the waves of the unknown. Ready to hop aboard and delve in?   Let’s ‘ride the waves’ a bit now with Liesbet and get to know more details     When did you realize you wanted to be a writer? I don’t think there was much of a realization, but more of an “easing into” writing for me. It came naturally. As a child in Belgium, I enjoyed writing, which was done in cursive, in the form of letters to friends and essays at school. In fourth grade, one of our daily assignments was to create a journal. Half of the page in this notebook was filled with words, the other half with a drawing that accompanied the text. This journaling task was my favorite part of the day and I picked up the writing portion again when I was a teenager. Ever since I was fourteen, I’ve written a daily diary! As I traveled throughout my twenties, I stated: “One day I will write a book.” But who hasn’t said that at some point in their lives? I wrote weekly travel reports to family and friends, first by hand, then via group emails. After a year-long RV journey in Mexico and Central America, I actually started drafting my first book. But, three months after that trip, we dove into the next adventure, and those plans were shelved. No time! New experiences to document! In 2007, when we changed gears from overland travel to sailing the world, I started blogging. For eight years, I kept up my www.itsirie.com blog about our cruising journey in the Caribbean and the Pacific. During that time, I published articles in magazines and I could finally call myself a writer! I guess, at some point, I had aspirations to be become a travel writer, but I quickly realized this would take away pleasure from writing and from traveling. It’s hard work, there’s a deadline and a format, your travels have a purpose other than enrichment or excitement. In my opinion, both should be done independently to produce the best results and find the most enjoyment and focus. D.G. – Love your story about slowly becoming a blossoming writer. And I agree with you, writing about travels is exciting and a great way to document your life, but travel writing specifically, is another ballgame altogether.   Where do your book ideas grow from? So far, I’ve only written one book. Like my articles, blog posts, and diary entries, the writing grows from personal experiences. I lead a very full, exciting, and adventurous life, by choice, and have the urge to share a lot of it – from mishaps, to amazing encounters, to tips, thoughts, and opinions. My book, a travel memoir, is written differently, however. It’s enveloped in a personal style I love to incorporate and I believe my voice – in the present – differs from other narratives. I have an infinite amount of story and book ideas, because we never sit still to digest any of it. And, that’s a problem… Writing and working from the road – or the water – is difficult, because the lifestyle itself is challenging and exhausting. So, the combination travel + write poses issues in my daily life. Which do I pick? Do I keep exploring or do I stop (temporarily) and turn those explorations in a book? D.G. – The inspiration will come when it’s ready. For now, you are doing all the legwork by living the experiences you can store up and discover where it will lead you next.   Do you agree with the general consensus that writers are loners? I’ve heard and noticed often that writers are introverts. Yet, there are exceptions. People like you and me, for example. We enjoy social contact, interactions, and being out and about. I’m not a total extrovert either (I don’t like to be overstimulated, overwhelmed, or part of a massive crowd), but have personality traits from both categories. I’m a toughie to put in any kind of box! I LOVE to be on my own. It’s when I’m most productive and self-confident; a theme I touch upon in my travel memoir, Plunge. I strive when I am by myself and can schedule my entire day around my own needs. Or not plan at all, which is more likely. I cherish my me time and feel that’s when I am truly and totally free. Does that make me a loner? Let’s just say that a balance of hermit-life and small social gatherings would make me a happy camper. D.G. – Touche my friend. Yes, we are very similar in these traits. I love being in social environments, but I treasure my alone and writing time just as much. Writing is a solitary sport for the most part, which I’m sure attributes to the assumption that all writers are introverts. We aren’t.