Live Free 2 Sail Fast

Book Review: “blogging for writers”

this is a post about a book thus it’s called…a book review. 

This afternoon I’m reviewing “blogging for writers” by Robin Houghton and published by The Ilex Press.  It’s copywrited in 2014 and comes in at just over 172 pages…with full color and pictures inside the insider stories in the book.  Gotta be honest, this book has been sitting in my desk pile for over a year now and I grabbed it to read in 2017, intent on being a better blogger by finding any tips and snippets I could.  This is one of those books I found in an actual bookstore and I read it cover to cover, often taking notes from some of the informative tips in the book.  The book is divided into twelve chapters and takes the writer into the blogging world step by step.  This book is a one-stop shop….when you’re done you’ll have a beginner blog and 100,000 followers if you read it chapter by chapter and order it from my link above via Amazon!  No, I’m teasing you.  I think this book will be a great first step for those folks who are already artists, writers or any kind of creative soul looking to start a basic blog or website and run with it from there.  I did read it cover to cover and gleaned a number of tips from it, but some of the info was a bit bland for me.  I did like the success stories and the info about aspiring writers ability to get their writing published in any format. 

For $10 dollars and some change, this is a great book for a new blogger or writer to read and learn from.  

By the time you read this…we should be at sea on the way to Bahia Tortugas (Turtle Bay) Mexico.  By the smart work of our humble crew and the grace of God, we’ll make it safely and keep the boat in one piece.  Did you see the Patreon buttons on our website?  This is what will keep us going…kibble for Quincy.  Don’t be shy about helping us a bit at a time to keep her fed and happy and keep some beer on-hand for the crew- 

Tulum’s Out! Baja HaHa Today

I’ve spent nearly four years writing and commenting on this blog so we could work toward today.  Interesting that some folks are still surprised that we’re actually leaving? (more…)

Quincy’s Corner: Prepping For Sea

Quincy’s Corner is written by a Great Dane who lives on a sailboat that’s about to go to sea (tomorrow).  She’s not always happy with her bedding choices but seems to be perfectly satisfied to be on the boat and be around the family. For this big upcoming sail we’re adding some additional crew but hopefully not adding too much stress for her. Quincy won’t be able to publish her weekly Quincys Corner when she can’t find Internet…but keep reading so you can continue to bath in her wisdom…..

Kids Corner: Teagan’s Out!

HOLA, AMIGOS! How y’all doin’? guess what? WE LEAVE ON MONDAY (WHITCH IS 3 DAYS FROM NOW)!!!! I am personally SOOOO excited! We’re going to be bringing a guy named Jeff and his daughters too (I’m so excited to finally have someone to hang out with!!!)! we luckily got the engine in okay, and mom and dad fueled up yesterday, so I think we’ve got everything covered okay. Oh, and I got my braces off a few days ago, too! I’ve gotta wear this clear retainer that hurts SO MUCH. IT IS DRIVING ME CRAZY!!!!!!!!!! But yeah, we get along. BUT I HAVE TO WEAR IT FOR THE REST OF THE TRIP! I HATE it!!! Luckily, the parents are letting us take Quincy(our HUGE dog)!!! But yesterday, Thursday (A.K.A. HALLOWEEN!!!), we had to say goodbye to everyone at school, cause yesterday was our last day at school. I’m really going to miss everyone…sniffle…TEAGAN UP AND OUT… (more…)

Quincys Corner: Contemplating The Boat Thing

Quincy the Great Dane lives on a sailboat. She’s 5, gray and 130 pounds. On Monday the 4th of November, she wants to leave the US for parts unknown with her feeder/walker to become a real sailing Great Dane. These are her thoughts: “I’m back on this boat thing after 5 days in the kennel. We’re somewhere different, the docks buckle and move when I jump onto them. It’s a bitch trying to type on his phone with my claws…much easier to use his keyboard. I’m feeling lazy this morn…the Sea Lions barking all night was ok but the damn birds around us are heck in my ears. And….the band playing near us was pretty loud too (Oingo Boingo). Ok, here’s a quick dawn photo then I’m back to bed. One more Quincys Corner before we leave”-

See, she had a rough night of sleeping soundly then getting me up for her morning walk! We’re excited to be close to leaving, one more weekend till we leave- hopefully on Monday the 4th. Please stick with us or consider following us as we press forward into this adventure.

Waiting On Engine

We’re sitting in a boatyard…still. Our engine was dropped back in the boat by crane on Monday…but it’s not running yet and we’re stuck here over this weekend. As a sailing blogist…I try to be fair and unemotional; but it’s really damn frustrating to still be sitting in this boatyard after not having an engine in the boat for 9-weeks. And of course…we pay the boatyard and our regular slip and we pay the mechanics to eventually get the engine running. There’s a bit of an emotional rollercoaster going on…cause we still want to leave on Nov the 4th. Even so, we’ve got to put some engine hours on before leaving…and do the million other things needed to prep the boat and prep for crew coming on board (like cleaning). Once we get an engine running, we think we’ll be on a downhill slide. I’ve been adventuring most of my life…and this prep/wait stage is totally part of most every good adventure…only this time I’ve got the kids with me!

Stick around for Quincy’s corner tomorrow!

Great Dane On A Boat: Quincy’s Come A Long Way

This is Quincy’s Corner; a part of our website and weekly blog where she can express her wisdom, comments and concerns to dogs and their people everywhere.  Quincy the Great Dane lives on a cruising sailboat and seems to like it.  She’s come a very long ways from her cushy life in a house….keep reading to see some of her first’s just in the last year: (more…)

Waiting On The Engine

We’re still waiting on the engine to get put back into the boat.  I’m sure many folks who own boats have gone through the same thing, but in our case it seems particularly frustrating because we still want to head out with Baja Ha-Ha….in two weeks.  Not sure we’ll make it; but in the meantime we’re making the best use of our time and getting other vital projects done.

Great Dane On A Boat: She Sleeps Well, I Sleep Well

Welcome to Great Dane on a Boat, in which Quincy the Great Dane pontificates on whatever she wants to discuss for the day.  Quincy is a Great Dane who lives on a sailboat.  This is her Sunday space to discuss dog issues and Great Dane thoughts with all of you.  So here we go: (more…)

Kids Corner: Tenth Birthday

From a Kid on a Boat to Kids Everywhere…Kids Corner: 

“HALLALUJEH! HALLALUJEH! WHY AM I CELLABRATING? ITS MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEEEEEEEEE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEEEEEEEE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR TEAGAN! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEEE! I turned ten last night, around midnight. As a firstborn, my dad was SOOOOO anxious to hear whether I was okay or not. Everybody was there, at 12 o’clock at night, waiting. I really wanted to come out at first, and I was early. But then I sensed the coldness, the bright lights, and all of these weird things crowding around me, cooing at me, with really hairy tops and dressed in animal skins, I knew that I was meant for a better world…but where could I escape to? I saw an opening in the place where I had just come out. Yes, that place was warm and there were no hairy things in there, at least what I had accounted of.  They picked me up and raised me to be one like them. They put animal skins on my body {which were VERY itchy}, and I grew hair on my top as well. I tried to escape, ANYTHING to let me be free! But alas, they were invulnerable. Curse those stupid baby fences! And oh, the horror of………. THE DOGGIE! It was everywhere, even in THE best hiding spots EVER! And yet it caught me every time. And then…………………”IT” CAME! They left me with gramma for some unknown reason, and I took this as my chance to escape! But again, she found me and gave that oh so amazing hot milk…but then they came back…with another! This one was even MORE horrible! But alas it is time for my nap {not really} TEAGAN UP AND OUT…”

Pretty cool that Teagan still has a chance to be creative and write her weekly column while we’re still here.  We’re going to make every effort to allow her to continue to write, post and grow her writing skills as we go along.  Very exciting for us here that we’ve been contacted by a number of cruising boats prepping for the Baja Ha-Ha also, congregating here in San Diego.  Teagan writes for kids everywhere from our boat..while we’re waiting for both our engine and the start of Baja Ha-Ha.  Which will come first? Not sure.

As we’ve gone along these past few months, we’ve started to collect home-schooling references and supplies and took inspiration from the sailing vessel “Totem” to buy a complete set of encyclopedias.  Here’s me unpacking them:

As we unpacked them, we realized how much space they took up and knew we would need to shuffle things around to fit the entire set.  So, we reshuffled the salon and now it looks like this: 

We bought last years “World Book” set (2018) and can’t be happier with it.  We know we won’t have wi-fi and internet in many of the places we’re going but we know we need a way for the kids to continue to do research..so these books will be instrumental I think.  So the kids will be home-schooled here on the boat as we go…we’ll cover this as we go.  Stick with us as we’re a family living on a sailboat with a Great Dane and prepping to leave to go sailing in far-away places.