What a Week I Have Had

And Yesterday Was the Perfect Capper to it...

It is a bit rolly here on our Fort Worden State Park mooring, not far from beautiful Port Townsend, where we’ll be heading tomorrow to put Watchfire into a safe slip for the winter. Out the portside porthole, the golden and russet leaves on the park’s trees speak of autumn’s arrival here, and my chilled fingers on the keyboard agree with that assessment.

Yesterday was an adventure. Realizing that our wi-fi hotspot was not getting a good enough signal to assure me of a solid connection for my Zoom-style video chat with Positive Talk Radio’s Kevin McDonald on his Friday afternoon KIXI radio spot (AM 880, Seattle), I opted to bus into town and “broadcast” from the Port Townsend Yacht Club clubhouse instead. Russel rowed me in to shore and we walked with Ready over to the Fort Worden museum district where the local bus stop is located, before heading back to the boat for his work day.

I chatted with a museum volunteer for a while before catching the bus, where I was regaled with local history about the port and its two marinas by a knowledgeable and entertaining driver. At Aldritch’s store in uptown PT, I chatted with the young owner of their new upstairs bookstore and he took a copy of “Honeymoon at Sea” to put on his shelf. Let’s hope he sells it soon (hint hint), so he will be encouraged to order more. I also dropped into Imprint Bookstore on Water Street, where I was told my book was on order and should be in stock by next week.

That’s good timing, as I have an author talk and slideshow coming up at the Port Townsend Library this week and I will be sending people to the book stores in town to see if they can find a copy and support local businesses, as I know my caring reader friends like to do. The local paper had a nice write-up by Kirk Boxleitner last week.

I dropped in to the Port Townsend library and was recognized by one of the librarians who said she had seen me on a poster—and there it was. I showed off the book and admired the lovely space before heading to lunch. A carnitas burrito gave me just the right fuel to power my radio chat about sailing in Baja and I was off to West Marine to give them a promotional copy to set up for retail sale, if the district manager agrees.

By 3pm, I’d cleaned up, changed, put on my makeup and logged in to the live radio show from my “mobile studio” at the yacht club clubhouse. An hour later I was done—the shows FB link is here—but had missed the bus back to Fort Worden so I rode the free shuttle downtown and back to the bus station just to keep off my feet, which had already logged well over 9,000 steps by that point. Book marketing is not for wimps!

Since my last newsletter I have done a couple more podcasts, one is Words & Pictures a podcast in the UK with DJ Bowman-Smith, which will air in a week or so, and one with “Keeping it real with Carmel” which is audio only and I’ll put the link here.

I have also been flooded with good wishes on my new book and some really great reviews too. I am thrilled to see the five-star Amazon reviews so far, including a 93-year-old author who said my book was one of his favorite books of all time.

My own favorite thing has been seeing where the book turns up on social media, in photos posted by old and new friends. Here are just a few to make you smile:

Photos of, from top: Author/writing guru Judy Reeves, Friends and filmmakers Aaron and Monica, Author of Flyaway, Helen Landalf, the book in some succulents, photo of amazing skincare/perfume creator Geir Ness, the book on a pedestal, and Author of The Zen Teacher Daniel Tricarico.

Thanks all—keep those photos and reviews coming. You probably know how important it is to get good reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, so please take a minute to write one for me when you can. Or forward this newsletter to a friend, or share it on social media. Next week I’ll be back to book reviews and I have some doozies…

hasta pronto!