Two months to launch…

C.E. Grundler

The boat, I mean. Not a book. That was last year. This year has been a bit bumpier, and one can only spread themself so thin. For the sake of what little sanity I have left, I’ve been focusing the majority of my energy on at long last having a floating, seaworthy vessel as spring rolls around. Once the boat’s back in her proper element, then I’ll shift my primary focus to a more regimented writing schedule. But by my count, I have approximately sixty days to reach my goal.

Sixty days and a lot of work. But due to Sandy’s destruction, and the damaged boats she left behind, my boatyard needed a place to begin repairs, and the drafty, unheated shed where my boat’s been blocked for far too long is now sealed up and heated to a balmy 55 degrees — warm enough for extensive fiberglass work. What had been my fortress of solitude is now a bustling center of activity, and I’m surrounded by the sounds of compressors, grinders and buffers as wounded boats enter and are returned to their pre-storm condition. There’s plenty of company while I’m working away, and with a little luck and a lot of long days, Annabel Lee should be making a splash on schedule, or at least close to it. It’s a matter of chosing my battles — there’s far more work I wanted to do before she emerged, but at this point I’m dividing my tasks into those that can and can’t be done while afloat.

The thing I learned about writing is to first get a sound story — one without plot holes or leaks, so to speak, from bow to stern.  Make sure it can float. It may still be a bit rough around the edges, but so long as everything is sound and operational, then you go back over it and do the edits. Or, in my case, the brightwork.

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