All our bags were packed, the provisioning done. Chip was finishing up the last few chores before we left, not to go cruising but to celebrate our anniversary in Ocracoke. With a little time and a lot of nervous energy I turned to online shopping to distract myself.
As you know, our entire last year has been focused on disposing of belongings, but once we had disposed of everything (mostly), we've noticed a new chore: fending off the potential tide of incoming stuff. We humans seem to have some attracting force that like a rogue comet pulls debris into its wake.
Lucky for me that electronic data does not count!
I was paging through amazon.com's Kindle Store looking for something, anything to help stave off the "waiting doldrums" I've been feeling, the I'd-rather-be-doing-something-else, my-life's-not-that-bad-but-I-still-want-to-be-somewhere-else and other hyphenated-phrase blues. In the travel book section on page 43 (okay, I didn't actually count) I found a book about a couple cruising on a small sailboat, written recently -- that I had neither read nor even heard of. Cha-ching.
It's called The Motion of the Ocean by Janna Cawrse Esarey, and I devoured it on our trip. This is not a sailor writing about cruising. It's a writer writing about sailing. BIG difference. Since I hope to be the same, I started reading it with that third eye observing the tone, the voice, the literary devices until about page 29 (okay, I didn't actually count and Kindle doesn't really have pages) when I became the third crew member, riding along with two people tackling life, the sea and inner demons on a small boat in a big ocean.
It's the first book I've read about cruising that pulled me into the galley trying to boil water on a 30-degree heel through pounding surf. It's the first time I actually felt elated and a little bit sad to spy land after a 20+day crossing. I was right there with them, and not just because I really wanted to be, but because a talented writer took me there.
A pleasure. An inspiration. A taunting reminder of why I have all those hyphenated-phrase blues.
As you know, our entire last year has been focused on disposing of belongings, but once we had disposed of everything (mostly), we've noticed a new chore: fending off the potential tide of incoming stuff. We humans seem to have some attracting force that like a rogue comet pulls debris into its wake.
Lucky for me that electronic data does not count!
I was paging through amazon.com's Kindle Store looking for something, anything to help stave off the "waiting doldrums" I've been feeling, the I'd-rather-be-doing-something-else, my-life's-not-that-bad-but-I-still-want-to-be-somewhere-else and other hyphenated-phrase blues. In the travel book section on page 43 (okay, I didn't actually count) I found a book about a couple cruising on a small sailboat, written recently -- that I had neither read nor even heard of. Cha-ching.
It's called The Motion of the Ocean by Janna Cawrse Esarey, and I devoured it on our trip. This is not a sailor writing about cruising. It's a writer writing about sailing. BIG difference. Since I hope to be the same, I started reading it with that third eye observing the tone, the voice, the literary devices until about page 29 (okay, I didn't actually count and Kindle doesn't really have pages) when I became the third crew member, riding along with two people tackling life, the sea and inner demons on a small boat in a big ocean.
It's the first book I've read about cruising that pulled me into the galley trying to boil water on a 30-degree heel through pounding surf. It's the first time I actually felt elated and a little bit sad to spy land after a 20+day crossing. I was right there with them, and not just because I really wanted to be, but because a talented writer took me there.
A pleasure. An inspiration. A taunting reminder of why I have all those hyphenated-phrase blues.
2 comments:
Nice review of Janna's book. And you have a good start to your blog (which is how Janna started out also).
Keep up the good work.
Fair Winds!
Carolyn Goodlander
Yacht Wild Card
Carolyn,
What a delight to hear from you. Thanks for the kind words.
--Tammy
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