I'VE GONE TO THE DARK SIDE...

Kindle2 -- this puppy is all it's cracked up to be...


I know...I know...I hear you all throwing rotten tomatoes at me. I'm ducking. But before you start lobbing the eggs consider this: I WORK ON A BOAT!!!!!!!I want novels the INSTANT they come out and I HAVE NO ROOM AT THE INN FOR ONE MORE BOOK.
Okay my rant is done.
1500 books. I can put my manuscripts on it (I just did last night)This will save me printing out copies for my husband to read. I used its free wireless connection and shopped until I dropped and essentially paid used book prices...and I bought books that I already had a hard copy of cuz it's easier-
But it doesn't mean I wont buy hard covers-
For example -- I want to read Christopher Moore's new book FOOL now, and since we will both be speaking at a literature festival together on Kauai in April -- I will buy ANOTHER book for him to sign. I love signed books...
Even at that I will have far less books total.
But Tooloose is NOT happy. The Kindle2 is very skinny so it's not comfortable to lie on AND being smaller it's much harder to aim that strategic hairball placement that he does to things that are precious to me.
The Kindle enhances my reading but does not replace it- the cool feature is it can 'read' to me- now it's not as wonderful as the actors on the audios so it wont compete - but it's a great added feature-
And? for those times my eyes are tired I can increase the font size- I found the page turning and the reading instantly easy-

So what I'm doing today? I'm going to the beach to see if I CAN read it perfectly fine in bright sunlight...
But so far?
I love Love LOVE my kindle2.
Now lets discuss. (I feel like Churchlady) Do you think the kindle is evil? Do you think ebooks are the spawn of Satan? And do you eat the middle out of the Oreo cookie before eating the two ends?

DUP DUP DUP DA DUP DUP OUT MY BACK PORCH...

Orion is in the thick of things now. From country ketch to city slicker.
Change is good. I'm inspired by change. I walked along the beach behind some tourists arguing about what to do next.
"This is our VACATION dammit! Enjoy yourself!"
"Hey don't blame me! I wanted to go to Vegas. You were the one who thought gambling was legal here. Remember?"
I wandered over to the Harbor eatery and overheard a couple of sailors moan about loosing a race due to pre-race celebrations and the alcohol consumed the night before because it COULDN'T be the women who beat them were better sailors. Nope. Never happen.
I trundled across the parking lot and watched a couple kids fishing for tilapia and catching an old net and getting REALLY excited about that. I thought to myself that's how I need to be. Happy no matter what.
So what am I doing now?
Cleaning out my refrigerator cuz all my soda got shaken up on the sail and exploded...
Ya had to be there...

Oh and THIS JUST IN an INTERVIEW WITH TOOLOOSE (I wondered what he was doing on my iPhone the other day...

EVERYBODY'S GOT A BRAND NEW BAG...

On the top of a mountain somewhere in Hawaii...

A warm barn, an indoor arena, a grassy field and pasture? What more could two horses want?
So now the horses are happy in their new digs and Tooloose was jealous. Nothing would do but that he and girl kitty got into the act...brand new kitty carriers...



But now he's in the dog house - or rather cat house -
Last night I left the companionway open for a little air, turned my back and ?
No Tooloose.
I looked all over.
I finally found him strolling the dock and having a beer with friends.
"Where have you been?" I yelled. "It's late!"
"Oops!" he meowed. "Didn't mean to get caught caterwauling."

He ran around the deck twice trying to avoid me then ran between my legs back into the boat.
Bad kitty.
BAD KITTY.
He told me later he was just doing research for this new idea for a book he has. I told him to finish his first one but he says this new one's a high concept thriller.
He's calling it "Cat Out of the Bag." It'll be a series.
"Cat Nipped"
"Cat Napped"
"Cats Gone Wild"

I cat wait...

CHANGE IS GOOD...

ORION'S new slip is ready for her.


So what's involved when you want to move a 48 foot sailboat?

First you measure the actual length from "bowsprit to bumpkin." NOTE: A 48 foot sailboat is not 48 feet... she is more like 56 feet... kind of like when you answer that pesky little question about weight on your drivers license. IDEAL versus REAL.

Next you make sure the engine is good to go -- it's a long trip 5 to 8 hours and mostly beating (straight into the wind) - so you change the fuel filters, find a crack in the fuel line, get air into the engine and in the process and discover an acutely necessary $7 fitting that is no where to be had in the entire Hawaiian islands. This also involves much hand wringing (by the wife/first mate) and the discovery of the first corollary of sailing.
"WHEN THE ENGINE IS NON-FUNCTIONAL OR THE SAILS IN DISREPAIR THE WEATHER WILL BE PRISTINE FOR YOUR JOURNEY"

So then day after day passes...you are SO close. You get the fuel line repaired. The fitting arrives overnight four days later...oops...you need THIS fitting as well that is ordinarily found at Home Depot but...GUESS WHAT? Not today!
Suffice it to say much more drama and handwringing ensues...AND THEN?
The engine starts and purrs like the proverbial well fed feline. The sail covers are off. The boat ready to go and?
The discovery of the SECOND corollary of sailing...
"WHEN THE BOAT IS IN TIP TOP SHAPE AND READY TO GO THE WEATHER WILL SUCK BIG TIME."

And so ORION waits to shove off.
Stay tuned.

NOTE: For your information BETA READER BOB doubles as HANDY DANDY WEATHER ADVISOR AND DELIVERY CREW. Tooloose has opted out of the trip. He's miffed because HE wanted to be captain. He said it was his turn and Gordon was being selfish. Instead he's driving one of the cars to Waikiki and doing research on where exactly IS the best place for Mai tai's...

TAKEN BY MY iPHONE...

This was taken the morning of the tornado...I am NOT kidding...there was a tornado in Hawaii at 1 pm Wednesday and it was VERY CLOSE to me... it picked a golf cart up -although that could just have been the golfer's really good excuse for a Mulligan...I don't know.
Anyway I happened to be writing in my cockpit at the time so I missed it.
That's the lesson for today.
You can be busily writing while wonderful things are happening all around you-- that's not to say that a tornado is particularly a wonderful thing but it would have been cool to check it out -- instead I was "defragmenting" my manuscript.
Schucks...
I hope someone comes to get me when there's a Hurricane.
I'd really hate to miss that.

FIGHT YOUR INNER TROLL...

Take careful note... we each have one of these TROLLS deep inside us...

So I guess everyone has heard Stephen King's rant about authors he thinks are crappy writers.
I would like to respectfully disagree with Stephen. During the Honolulu Book festival I was on a panel that discussed what was "bad" literature and what was "good" literature and I suppose I'll now be black listed from further panels as I said there was no such thing as "bad" literature...Let me explain. There are so many tastes and levels of reading ability that there is something for everyone -- And I don't think there's some perfect arbiter that I'm willing to let decide for me what's good writing and what's bad writing. Now I know what I LIKE...interestingly enough it's rarely what my sister likes...now my husband and I have similar tastes but Tooloose is constantly buying alien space monkey science fiction magical realism love stories that I simply can't get into...I think you get my drift.
So I don't think it's right that an author says another author is a crappy writer in an interview...I think it's a really mean thing to do. It's HARD to write a book. I refuse to diss someone publicly. It's not right...
But if we see each other at a bar and you buy me a a couple of black Russians and a few Singapore Slings...well then...all bets are off.