4 Marginally Interesting Tidbits About Indiantown, Florida

Who would have thought I’d have spent so many months living on a sailboat in Indiantown, Florida. I know I certainly didn’t. If you had asked me a few years ago if I ever thought I’d live on a sailboat, let alone a sailboat in rural Florida, I’d have stared at you like you were a bit daft in the head.

If you’ve never heard of Indiantown, I’m not surprised. Until we stumbled across it in our boat search last year, I’d never heard of if either. Indiantown is a small town located to the east of Lake Okeechobee in southern Florida smack dab in the middle of sugar cane fields and alligator-infested waters. Still don’t know where it is? Have a look at the map below.

Indiantown isn't exactly a tourist destination. Most visitors to Florida stick to the coasts, where all the action is. If they do go inland, it’s usually to Orlando to say hi to Mickey Mouse. So, it’s no wonder that Indiantown gets overlooked and no one knows much about it. But, I’m here to change all of that. After you read the marginally interesting tidbits I’ve found out about Indiantown, you’ll be chomping at the bit to get here on your next holiday. Lucky for you there actually happens to be a hotel in town – the Seminole Inn. It’s conveniently located right next to the brand-spanking new Dunkin’ Donuts. See, how can you go wrong – a bed to sleep in and donuts in the morning. 

Tidbit #1 – 6,083 people live in Indiantown.

All right, that tidbit isn’t even marginally interesting, I’ll grant you that. But, what is interesting is the fact that the majority of the population is Hispanic (65%). Okay, you’re right, that isn’t that interesting either. You can point to lots of towns in the States which are predominantly Hispanic.

But, what is interesting (to me at least) is that some of that population is made up of Guatemalans who speak Kanjobal. I had no idea what Kanjobal was until I saw a poster about social services programs at the doctor’s office and it was in English, Spanish and a third mystery language. Turns out it was Kanjobal – a Mayan language. Wouldn’t it be fun to learn some Kanjobal! It even has retroflex consanants - the ones where you curl your tongue in the back of your throat. So much fun to pronounce!

If you’re one of those nerdy types who likes stats, pie charts and graphs, you can find out all sorts of demographic information on Indiantown here, including the unpleasant fact that there are 13 registered sex offenders living here.

Tidbit #2 – Davy Jones died here.

If you don’t know who Davy Jones is, then you’re way too young to be reading this blog. Davy Jones was part of the Monkees, a band from the 1960s who had dodgy haircuts and their own TV show. Those of you who remember the show are probably humming this little tune in your head just now…”Hey, hey, we’re the Monkees. And people say we monkey around. But we’re too busy singing to put anybody down.”

When he wasn’t busy being a teen idol, Davy Jones was obsessed with horses. Later in life, he moved to Indiantown where he kept a bunch of race horses. If you’re interested in horse racing, Indiantown is home to Payson Park, which folks will tell you is one of the top thoroughbred horse racing places in the States.

In 2012, Davy Jones died of a heart attack after riding one of his horses. You don’t have to spend too much time in Indiantown before someone will say to you, “Hey, did you know Davy Jones died here?” So, if you want to blend in while you're here on holiday, just answer back, “Sure did. Weren’t the services held at Holy Cross?” If you can say that in Kanjobal, all the better.

Tidbit #3 – The drive through at the Indiantown Burger King is only meant for fast food orders.

Yes, that’s right, if you want to order multiple orders of Oreo shakes and hot French fries, don’t go through the drive through. That’s not a fast food order. That’s a slow food order. Making a lot of Oreo shakes takes time and having to cook a fresh batch of French fries just for you is a real hassle. Time moves slowly when there are Oreo shakes and French fries involved. Don’t hold up the drive through line with slow food orders. Come inside, place your order, have a seat and wait. There’s free Wi-Fi to keep you occupied while you wait.

Anyway, that was the advice that one of the employees at the local Burger King gave us. Makes sense, I guess. I used to go there to get hot fudge sundaes with some friends and, when it isn’t busy, the employees would stop and have a chat with us. We learned a lot about how they train new staff and what a pain it is when people order lots of shakes. Personally, I’ve never ordered an Oreo shake, but if I ever get the hankering for say ten of them, I’ll be sure to go inside to place my order.

Okay, probably not so much a tidbit as some local color. But, this Burger King does have some of the friendliest employees you'll ever run across in a fast food joint. See, another reason to make your way to Indiantown.

Tidbit #4 – Fire is a good thing. Especially when it comes to coke.

Are you one of those people who prefers Mexican coke to American coke because it’s made with cane sugar as opposed to high-fructose corn syrup? Personally, I can’t tell the difference, but I know some people swear that it tastes so much better. They’ll go out of their way to track down bottles of the stuff in the grocery store and stockpile it just in case Donald Trump does build that wall and the supply chain across the border gets shut down.

They grow sugar cane in fields all around Indiantown. One of the quirky things about sugar cane growing is that when they’re ready to harvest the stuff, they burn the fields. Sounds counter-intuitive, doesn’t it. Burn the crop you want to harvest – how odd. Apparently, the fire burns hot and quickly and takes off just the dead leaves and some of the waxy coating before it goes out, making it all that much easier to get the cane and its sugary goodness inside.

The downside is that when they burn the fields, the ash ends up everywhere. Just washed your boat? Well, then you can be sure that the wind direction is going to clock around and scatter that ash all over your sparkly decks. Going out for a walk? Don’t breathe through your mouth or you’ll end up choking on ash.

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Wasn’t that fun? Don’t you feel like you know so much more about Indiantown? Sure, maybe it’s more than you ever wanted to know, but look how much time you’ve managed to waste reading this and how many boring chores and projects you’ve managed to put off for just a little longer. Totally worth it, wasn’t it?

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Flashback Friday

Yesterday, for #ThrowbackThursday, I posted a link on our Facebook page to an old post I wrote in the early days of our blog. But, I realized that a number of our blog followers aren't on Facebook and missed out on my little blast from the past. So, I thought since it's Friday, why not make it a #FlashbackFriday and share links to a few other of our earlier posts that folks who haven't been with us from the beginning may have missed.

Sure, it's kind of a lazy idea for a blog post, but it's also been a lot of fun going back and reminiscing about what was on my mind back when I was first starting to learn how to sail back in New Zealand on our Raven 26. Hopefully, you'll find it kind of fun too. 

The Hauraki Gulf - our old stomping ground back in New Zealand.
Via Department of Conservation (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 New Zealand License)

 
One of the things that strikes me is how scared I was of pretty much everything having to do with sailing. Things like accidentally gybing the boat, decapitating Scott and trying to explain to the police why I had a headless corpse on my boat. Or, having the propane tanks explode while trying to make pasta. Of course, the upside of a propane explosion is that you don't have to explain anything to the police, because you've been blown into a million smithereens.

But, probably one of my greatest fears (and it still is) is the boat being knocked down and going underwater. Everyone assured me if that happened, the boat would eventually right itself. The key is to be able to hold your breath underwater until it does so. Worrying about how long I could hold my breath was top of my list for a while - you can have a read about it here. What about you? How long can you hold your breath for?

Rainbow's End - our old boat in New Zealand. Fortunately, she always stayed right side up while we had her.

New Zealand is home to Lin and Larry Pardey, rock stars of the sailing world. We spent quite a bit of time cruising at Kawau Island, where they live. We kept hoping we'd run into them, but I guess it wasn't meant to be. I even wrote them a "letter" on our blog - you can read it here. 

One of the wallabies we ran into on Kawau Island. Surprisingly, they proved to be less elusive than the Pardeys.

Scott learned how to sail before me and has a lot more experience, so I was constantly in catch-up mode, trying to build up my knowledge base. I boned up on all sorts of things like how to tie knots, points of sail, boat equipment etc. And in the course of my reading and research, I found myself wandering down lots of rabbit holes, which really don't have too much to do with the practical aspects of sailing and boat ownership, but which were a lot more interesting. Like why boats are girls, at least in the English language. 

Probably the most exciting thing that happened in those early days sailing in New Zealand was being right there on the scene when  the 2013 America's Cup boats were being built in Auckland and then watching Emirates Team New Zealand and others out testing and training on them in the Haruaki Gulf. There were a number of times when we would be out on the water watching them fly past us at these incredible speeds. It was even more exciting to be living in New Zealand when the America's Cup was on. Sadly, Emirates Team New Zealand lost. It was heartbreaking. What a bugger. You can read my thoughts about it here. 

View of Westhaven Marina and the Auckland skyline. The start of many fun adventures while in New Zealand.

So, there you go - a few #FridayFlashback memories from a few years ago. If you want to read more about our adventures in New Zealand, you can find links to all our posts on this page.

What did you get up to a few years ago? What's your favorite #FridayFlashback memory?
   

Monetizing Your Blog {Or Stop Sending Me Form Letters}

I don’t know about you, but I like to be made to feel special. To feel unique. To feel cherished. To feel like someone has spent the time really getting to know me.

No, I’m not talking about what I expect from Scott on Valentine’s Day (he makes me feel special year-round). I’m talking about what I expect from people who want to partner with us at The Cynical Sailor.

From time to time, I get emails from companies wanting me to flog their products and services on our blog and Facebook page. Usually they want me to do it for free. Yes, free. My time and effort is apparently worth…nothing. So much for feeling special.

What’s even more annoying is when they email form letters. It’s so obvious that they replace “Dear So-and-So” with your name and replace “Blog Name” with the name of your site. You just know that they’ve sent the exact same email to 671 other blogs that day. So much for feeling unique.

Usually, I politely reply to these inquiries, despite not being made to feel unique and special. I let them know that we don’t do sponsored posts, product reviews etc. I might even suggest other bloggers who could be a better fit for their product or service. I rarely hear back with a thank you. I’d be happy with even a form thank you letter. But, alas, I hear nothing back. So much for feeling cherished.

Occasionally, I get an email that does make me feel special, unique and cherished. The company will ask me what my rates are for sponsored posts and partnerships (they understand my time and effort is worth something), they mention a particular post I’ve written that they enjoyed (they’ve taken the time to actually read our blog, rather than just plug in our blog name into their form letter) and they say thank you when I reply and decline their offer and explain that we don’t monetize our blog. Obviously, their mothers raised them right.

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Some of you may be wondering what I mean by monetizing a blog. Simply put, it means making money (or trying to) from blogging and other forms of social media. There are different ways to go about trying to earn some dosh – here’s just a few to give you an idea.

Sponsored Advertisements By Fellow Bloggers

Basically, fellow bloggers pay you to promote their blog, often through a banner on your sidebar, post(s) about them and their blog and/or guest posts (as in someone pays you to write a post for your blog). In effect, they’re “sponsoring” your blog and in return you advertise theirs. I see this a lot with lifestyle bloggers, for example this one and this one. The Bloggess also uses this approach. (By the way, I love her blog – weird and quirky, just my cup of tea.) I haven’t really seen sponsored ads used too much in sailing and cruising blogs, with the exception of The Boat Galley (a great go-to site for tips and tricks on boat life).

Rates vary quite a bit depending upon the reach and impact of your blog – for example, how many page views do you get a day, what’s your popularity ranking, what’s your target audience demographics etc. If you’re thinking about offering sponsored advertisement opportunities, then you should make sure you know what your stats are and be prepared to make them available on your site or email them upon request. After all, why would folks want to spend their hard earned money with you if they’re not going to get the right kind of bang for their buck?

To give you an idea of monthly rates, The Bloggess charges between $100-$750 (her blog is huge), advertising on The Boat Galley starts at $11 and some of the lifestyle bloggers I’ve seen charge rates between $8-$200 (check out Passionfruit, a popular advertising website, to see what kind of rates are out there).

Charging For Your Content

While many people blog with the intention of freely sharing their content with their target audience (friends, families and others who share the same interests) and see it more as a “diary” of their daily life and adventures, other bloggers work hard to create content that they feel people might be interested in paying for, like you would with a book, magazine or DVD. One example of this is The Minimalist Sailor where you can access their video blog and photo gallery for a monthly fee.

Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is an increasingly popular way to offset the time and effort put into blogging and other forms of social media, not to mention the costs associated with hosting a website etc. Patreon is a well-known way of going about this. You establish a goal, set a financial target associated with that goal and then ask for pledges from their patrons to achieve your goal. In exchange, you offer rewards to your patrons.

If you want to see an example of how this works, check out Bumfuzzle’s Patreon page – they want to buy a sailboat in 2018 and need $2,288 a month in pledges to achieve that. In exchange, they offer rewards ranging from personalized postcards to mentoring sessions on financial trading. Everyone can still access Bumfuzzle’s content, but those who want to support their efforts financially can do so through Patreon.

Product & Service Reviews

Reviewing products and services is a pretty straightforward way to get some cool stuff and experiences in exchange for a review. The key thing is that your review needs to be honest and the product and service needs to fit with you and your blog in an authentic way. Otherwise, people are going to stop believing you and trusting in your judgment. I see way too many blogs gushing over the latest snack food and how they used it to make a casserole for dinner which totally transformed their lives and made their marriages stronger. Yeah, totally believable. But, I get it. Free snacks sound awesome.

Okay, it’s not all like that. Most people are selective about what they review. And they’re upfront with the companies they’re partnering with that their review will be totally honest and upfront. Want to see some good examples? Check out MJ Sailing’s post on styling while sailing and Sail Far Live Free’s gear reviews.

Sponsored Posts 

Quite a few of the emails we get are from folks wanting us to write sponsored posts. They want us to mention their product or service on our blog or Facebook page without actually using the product or service. My favorite is when they ask us to promote it on Twitter (we don't have a Twitter account). Actually, they really aren’t sponsored posts as much as they’re un-sponsored posts. They run along the lines of, “Hey, we just released this awesome new product that your followers would be interested in. Here’s a press release so that you can share it on your blog. And don't expect a dime from us. You should just feel honored that you're among the 671 blogs we contacted about this.” Often, they’re products and services that I wouldn’t be interested in, nor do I think anyone who reads this blog would be. Clearly, they haven’t done their homework before they hit the send button on their form letter email.

To be fair, I have seen some decent sponsored post opportunities which seem to take a genuine partnership approach. One example is from last year when an insurance company asked bloggers to write about their favorite cruising destinations and link to their survey on sailing superstitions. There were a lot of fun blog posts on the subject, the insurance company got some PR and referral traffic back and, from what I hear, they paid fairly and promptly. Astrolabe Sailing’s post is an example of the types of posts people wrote.

Donate Button

Having a donate button on your site is one of the simplest ways to monetize your blog. You straight out ask people to chip in some money via PayPal in appreciation for your content. It isn’t usually a large amount – enough to maybe buy a cold beer or a nice dinner out. You can see an example of this on Sailing with Terrapin’s site – look for the picture of Homer Simpson on the sidebar.

Amazon Affiliate Links

Another simple and (generally) unobtrusive way to monetize your blog is through Amazon affiliate links. Say there’s a great product that you talk about in a blog post – why not make a few pennies on it by linking back to the item on Amazon. If your readers end up buying that product (or something else on Amazon) within a certain timeframe, then you make a small commission and it doesn’t cost your readers anything extra. When you mention the item in your blog post, you just link back to Amazon. Another way to do this is by highlighting items available on Amazon which aren’t necessarily related to your blog post topic, but which your readers might be interested in. Travels with Kevin and Ruth is a great example of this.

Those are just some examples of how people make money from blogging. There are many other ways to go about it.

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A Side Note About Disclosures For You Americanos Out There

Something I found out about recently that I thought I should share is that if you’re a blogger in the States and you’re receiving compensation in any form (including free or discounted products and services), then you must disclose this fact to your blog readers. If you don’t, you could be in hot water with the FTC. You’re required to have a clear and conspicuous disclosure on your blog. Here are a couple of examples that I’ve seen (note, I have no idea if they’re FTC-compliant) – (1) check out the box on the sidebar of Oak & Oats which states that it is a “for-profit blog…which features products we truly love” and (2) this one where Living in Another Language state at the bottom of their post that they were “guests of MedSailors in exchange for an open and honest review.” I haven’t always seen disclosures on sailing and cruising blogs and Facebook, which might be food for thought for some of you out there. (If you want to know more, here’s a helpful write up on the subject.)

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So, Why Don’t We Monetize Our Blog?

When we started this blog a few years ago, Scott and I talked about whether we wanted to monetize it. It was a pretty short conversation. Neither of us were interested in trying to make money from blogging for a few reasons.

1 – We’re lazy.

To do it properly, monetizing a blog takes time and effort. You’ve got to work to build up your followers, constantly stay on top of your stats, tailor your content to what you think your target audience wants to read (rather than what you want to write about), write endless emails to potential sponsors, develop your social media presence etc. Ugh. I’d rather read books and eat chocolate. Besides, unless you have a pretty decent following, the return on investment isn’t that great.

2 – We don’t want to be Prom Queen.
 
We started off blogging, like many people, to keep a record of our adventures for our family, friends and like-minded folks out there. Things haven’t really changed too much. We didn’t set out to create content that had some sort of market value (and we still don’t). We don’t want to have to worry about what we look like, if we’re popular and fret about whether we’re wearing the trendiest clothes just so people will vote for us and make us the Prom Queen of Blogoverse High School. I like how Bumfuzzle puts it on their Patreon site – “We never capitalized on bumfuzzle.com because to do so requires selling yourself – your site, your content – to marketers.”

On the flipside, there are some great blogs out there which aren't trying to be Prom Queen, they're true to themselves so to speak, and they make monetizing their blog work for them. I think people can tell that they're being authentic and are therefore totally supportive of the fact that they want to try to make a few bucks from blogging (or at least recoup some of their costs associated with their website, making videos etc.). Folks enjoy their content and the hard work they put into blogging and want to help out in return.

3 – We don’t need the money.

Sure, we’d like the money, but we don’t need the money. We’re funding our adventures through savings, with occasional work gigs along the way. To be honest, we’d feel kind of weird asking for money from strangers, when we have enough to cover our expenses in the bank. So we don’t.

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Disclaimer Time

Reading about all that FTC disclaimer stuff makes me want to have a disclaimer of my own. And here it is...who knows, maybe someday we’ll change our mind and try to make some bucks off the blog. Maybe not, maybe yes, maybe so, who knows. If someone sent me a t-shirt or some leggings with cute kittens on them, I might be tempted to review them in exchange for the free Crazy Cat Lady clothes. Basically, I’m a sucker for anything having to do with cats. Chocolate is another thing I’d sell my bloggy soul to the devil for. Hey, you Whittaker’s, I'm talking to you – send me a large box of Dark Ghana chocolate bars from New Zealand and I’ll be happy to write a review for you.

But, now over to you. What are your thought on monetizing blogs? Do you like it? Do you hate it? Do you make money off your blog? It can be a controversial subject - let's hear what you have to think.

You can find links to other posts on blogging tips & tricks on here.
 
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Around The World In 80 Books | Update #5

I've just finished up another month of the Around the World in 80 Books challenge. The idea is to read books set in 80 different countries, effectively exploring the world from the comfort of your armchair. Since my last update, I've read books set in five more countries - Brazil, Ireland, Japan, Russia and Samoa. That makes a total of 25 books since I started the challenge. 55 more to go!

You can read more about the challenge here, as well as check out Update #1, Update #2, Update #3 and Update #4.

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THE TESTAMENT by John Grisham | Brazil

It's been a while since I've read a John Grisham book. While I wouldn't normally put his books on my must read list, when I saw this on the book exchange shelf and read on the back that it was about Brazil, I decided to give it a shot. However, this one seemed to be a bit different than other John Grishman books I've read - less of a legal thriller and more of a spiritual message within a legal context.

The Testament starts with a legal battle over the last will and testament of a billionaire who left his fortune to a missionary serving in Brazil, rather than to his family. The book describes a lawyer's search in the Patanal region of Brazil to find her before time runs out on the legal proceedings. In the process, there is a lot of adventure and misadventure, evil bugs, illness and religion.

Throughout the book, Grisham paints a picture of the challenges faced in the rain forest on the border between Bolivia and Brazil. One of those challenges is the rate at which native Indian languages are dying off - an issue that I've always been interested in since my days studying anthropology.

"When the Portuguese explorer Pedro Alvares Cabral first stepped on Brazilian soil, on the coast of Bahia, in April of 1500, the country had five million Indians, scattered among nine hundred tribes. They spoke 1,175 languages, and except for the usual tribal skirmish they were a peaceful people. After five centuries of getting themselves ‘civilized’ by Europeans the Indian population had been decimated. Only 270,000 survived, in 206 tribes using 170 languages."

You can find out more about The Testament on Good Reads.


GALWAY BAY by Mary Pat Kelly | Ireland

I'm kind of embarrassed to admit that I don't know much about Irish history. After all I'm part Irish-American and I hold an Irish passport, so it's about time I learned something about the country. Given that I find actual history books to be pretty dry, I prefer to do my learning through historical fiction. That's where Galway Bay comes in.

Beginning in 1839, it tells the story of an Irish family who survive "The Great Starvation" brought on by the potato blight and end up emigrating to America. The family settles in Chicago, struggles to survive and then gets caught up in the Civil War. The book ends with a family gathering at the Chicago World Fair in 1893.

I found it to be an enjoyable saga, easy to read and hard to put down. And I might have even learned a thing or two.

"Call them what you will, but they know the facts. England owns Ireland. Mitchel has the figures. In the forty years since the Union, we’ve paid eight million pounds a year in taxes. What’s that, over three hundred million pounds? Add to that the ten percent tithe every one of us pays to the Church of Ireland to support churchmen for the likes of the Scoundrel Pyke. A fortune. All we ask is some of those taxes back. Parliament refuses. The British distract O’Connell with promises of relief and public works with our grain, our cattle, our sheep, our pigs, and our butter! We can’t afford to buy what we grow. Now we’ve lost the potato. What do they care? They’ve wanted us dead for centuries – Ireland without the Irish. The blight is the weapon they’ve been waiting for. Britain will look the other way as we starve to death."

You can find out more about Galway Bay on Goodreads.


THE PRIVATE PAPERS OF EASTERN JEWEL by Maureen Lindley | Japan

This was another one of those books that I picked up from the marina book exchange. It's a good thing it didn't cost me anything, because I wasn't too enthralled with it. It's billed as an "electrifying epic" which is based on the true story of a Chinese princess turned spy. Given it's about a Chinese princess, you're probably wondering where Japan comes into it. The main character, Eastern Jewel, was sent to Japan as a young girl to live with another family. While in Japan, she embraces its culture and starts to identify more as Japanese than Chinese.

Some parts of the book are interesting when they describe what life was like in Japan, China and Mongolia during the early 1900s, but the rest of the book left me bored to tears. If you are thinking of reading this, be warned that you might find it to be quite racy. There's no shortage of sex scenes in the book, which frankly I don't think added anything to the plot. Although, now that I think about it, that may have been the plot.

Don't worry, I'm not going to give you a quote from one of the racier sections of the book. Instead, I found this passage interesting. It describes the reaction of Eastern Jewel to the suicide of her Japanese foster aunt. She is discomfited by the suicide and surprised that her Japanese family see no dishonor in the act.

"When I went to Natsuko to formally offer my condolences I said something of my views to her, suggesting she pray that Shimako not be punished for her contempt of the gift of life. ‘You like to think of yourself as Japanese, Yoshiko,’ she said. ‘But your Chinese blood will always give you away. I know that you do not grieve for Shimako, who outshone you in life. How did you come to be so heartless a person? You do not take after your mother, who they say was a gentle woman.’"

You can find out more about The Private Papers of Eastern Jewel on Goodreads.

Scarlet Lies by Lani Wendt Young | Samoa

I bought this book on a whim on Amazon. I did a search for books set in Samoa, then sorted the results by price from low to high and this one popped up towards the top. Although it wasn't free (my favorite price point), it was only 99 cents, so I decided to give it a shot. The reviews I read promised me a side-splitting romance and it didn't disappoint. It was one of those books where I laughed out loud more than once.

The main character, Scarlet, was exiled overseas as a teenager in disgrace to live with her aunties. She reluctantly returns to Samoa to attend her sister's wedding and face her family. On her flight, she meets Jackson, a man who she thinks is almost as dreamy as Jason Momoa, and sparks fly - this is where the romance comes in. While in Samoa, Scarlet deals with cultural pressures from her family at the wedding from hell, as well as her attraction to Jackson. This book also has a racy scene or two typical of what you might find in some romance novels. {By the way, I don't know what I'm giving all these "racy scene" warnings. Maybe it's because my mom reads this blog.}

Scarlet Lies is a fast read which had me in stitches. If you don't know who Jason Momoa is, you should probably Google him.

"Last year I wrote Jason Momoa a few letters (maybe ten or twenty. I forget.) and sent him a few boxes of my homemade cookies. Just to express my appreciation for his movies, y'know? Then his mean agent threatened to take out a restraining order on me so I had to stop. Which was a massive over-reaction on his part, because how dangerous can chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies be? Yeah, so I was sending them every week, but I thought he could share them with all of his family and friends. Clearly they misunderstood my intentions."

You can find out more about Scarlet Lies on Goodreads.


DARKNESS AT NOON by Arthur Koestler | Russia

As I was reading this book out on the patio at the marina, a few people stopped to chat with me about it. Inevitably they would say, "Oh, that's a classic." I guess the fact that it had the Penguin Classics imprint on it should have been a clue, but to be honest, I had never heard of it. I just picked it up off of the book exchange shelf because it ticked the Russia box. I had absolutely no expectations and knew nothing about it when I read it - sometimes, that's the best way to read a book.

Darkness at Noon describes the imprisonment of a Bolshevik revolutionary, Rubashov, who was tried for treason by the Soviet government. Rubashov has flashbacks to the early days and the actions he took to establish the Soviet state, which he viewed as for the greater good of mankind. It's a fascinating portrayal of the revolution and its aftermath, which has me reflecting on the philosophic underpinnings of the former Soviet Union.

I especially liked the descriptive language Kostler used, like this passage which compares the collapse of the revolutionary movement to human death.

"The movement had been defeated, its members were outlawed and hunted and beaten to death. The Party was no longer a political organization; it was nothing but a thousand-armed and thousand-headed mass of bleeding flesh. As a man’s hair and nails continue to grow after his death, so movement still occurred in individual cells, muscles and limbs of the dead Party. All over the country existed small groups of people who had survived the catastrophe and continued to exist underground…The Party remained dead, it could neither move nor breathe, but its hair and nails continued to grow; the leaders abroad sent galvanizing currents through its rigid body, which cause spasmodic jerks in the limbs."

You can find out more about Darkness at Noon on Goodreads. 

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If you're participating in the challenge too, I'd love to hear what you've been reading. Even if you're not doing the challenge, let us know what books you've been enjoying lately.

COUNTRIES READ TO DATE: Australia, Azerbaijan, the Bahamas, Brazil, Canada, China, Cuba, England, Ghana, Haiti, Iceland, India, Ireland, Japan, Kenya, Mali, Mexico, North Korea, Norway, Russia, Samoa, Scotland, United States, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.

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Cost Of Living Aboard Our Boat | December 2015 & January 2016

We've been tracking how much it costs to live aboard our boat, S/V Tickety Boo, at Indiantown Marina in southern Florida, where we were initially laid up during hurricane season and where I'm now living while Scott is working overseas. While Scott has been in Scotland, I've been staying on our boat and slowly ticking things off of our project list. So, our live aboard costs are pretty much just that - cost of my daily living aboard our boat and occasionally buying stuff for Tickety Boo to keep her happy.

You can find links to other cost updates from ourselves and others on this page. If you want to know how much we spent over the past two months, have a look below.

Cost of Living Aboard | December 2015 & January 2016

Overall, we spent $2,175.21 during December and January which is down around $900 from the previous two months. I had a look back to see how I saved so much money during the past two months and it pretty much comes down to not spending much on stuff for our boat and having fewer out-of-pocket medical expenses.

Before we get into the nitty-gritty details of what we spent, here are a few things to note:

• All costs are in US dollars. 
• Not all expenses are included - here's what we've left out:

1 - We don't report how much we spend on alcohol. I remember reading some horrible, judgy comments in a blog post a few years back about how much someone spent on booze, so I left it out when we first started tracking our cruising costs back in New Zealand. For consistency's sake, I've continued to leave it out when tracking our cruising and RV costs. 

2 - We haven't included costs related to storing our Scamp travel trailer ($21 per month) because we track the cost of our RV and cruising adventures separately.

3 - We've also left out our costs for medical insurance. We didn't think it made sense to include insurance costs as they can vary so widely depending upon your nationality, where you cruise, what level of coverage you want and can afford etc. In case you are curious, while we're back in the States, we do have insurance through the health insurance marketplace (aka Obamacare), primarily to protect our assets and cover us in case of a catastrophic medical condition. After spending a pretty big chunk of change for health insurance during 2015, we were in a bit of a quandary about whether we should go ahead and get coverage for 2016 or take the risk and pay the tax penalty for being uninsured. In the end, after weighing up the potential tax penalty, possible tax credits and risk of being uninsured, we ended up getting insurance for 2016. If you want to know more about our health insurance options and quandary for 2016, check this post out.

• Scott has been in Scotland taking care of some work projects and tending to some other matters, so grocery and entertainment costs are less than they would be normally.
• I've included any shipping and taxes we've paid in what we report. Florida has a 6% sales tax. Boo.

  
GROCERIES | Total = $456.42

This category includes everything we put in our bodies in terms of food and drink (excluding booze) that we prepare ourselves. It doesn't include things like paper towels and ziploc bags, which I know some people would classify as groceries. Sure, you could probably eat them, but they wouldn't taste very good.

I spent about $130 less on groceries in the past two months than I did during October and November. This is due in large part to the fact that I've run out of places to store food. I had been spending more on groceries in order to build up our food stores. Although we aren't heading out on the water anytime soon, I do like the idea of having a few months of food tucked away just in case of financial hardship, natural disaster or alien invasion. 

If you saw our Extreme Penny Pinching post last week, then you'll know that I've decided to try to get the grocery spend down even further by challenging myself to spend only $4 per day on groceries during February (that's the amount that SNAP/Food Stamp recipients get). Check back next month to see how it goes. 

PERSONAL & HOUSEHOLD | Total = $37.72

This is the category where we include household things (like paper towels and ziploc bags) and personal hygiene items (like soap and shampoo). We also capture items for the "home" here - like storage containers.

ENTERTAINMENT | Total = $118.71

One of the great things about hanging out in Indiantown is that there really isn't all that much to spend your entertainment dollars on. It's a pretty small town and things are really quiet at the marina, so there's not a lot of temptation.

In terms of drinks and eating out, this includes everything we don't prepare ourselves, even if we get something to go and eat it back on the boat. We also track how much we spend on books, magazines, movies etc. in this category (like the new Star Wars movie). I also got caught up in the Powerball hype when the jackpot was at astronomical levels and bought two tickets during January ($4). I consider this entertainment. You can probably tell that I didn't win as I'm still tracking how much we spend.

COMMUNICATIONS | Total = $160.00

Our cell phone is actually one of our biggest non-boat related expenses. I have a $60 monthly GoPhone plan with AT&T which includes 5GB of data and unlimited calls and texts. Normally, 5GB of data isn't enough for us, but we have a WiFi adapter/antenna gizmo which helps us get the marina Wi-Fi at our boat and minimizes the use of our cellular data. Lately though it's been hard to access the marina Wi-Fi as there are so many people here, so sometimes I end up buying additional data. While Scott is away, I've also added on a $10 monthly international call plan so that we do our daily phone call.

BOAT FUEL | Total = Nil

Because our boat hasn't left the slip, we haven't needed to spend anything on diesel or gas.

LPG | Total = Nil

I've been primarily using our microwave and crock pot for cooking, so haven't needed to top up the LPG tanks.

MARINA COSTS | Total = $1,160.70

Keeping Tickety Boo in a slip is one of our biggest expenses. The monthly cost of a slip with electricity at Indiantown Marnia for a 34.5' boat is $572.40. The guys at the marina will also come pump out our holding tank on demand - $5.30 for each visit.

BOAT STUFF | Total = $38.11

This category is for all the stuff we've been buying for the boat. We've got a long list of stuff we need to get for Tickety Boo - some upgrades, some maintenance related items, equipment etc. I'm trying to spread the costs out because I simply find it too painful to spend so much money all at once.

During the past two months, I really haven't spent much at all on poor Tickety Boo. I did get her some boat cards and lithium grease. That should keep her happy for a while.

In case you're wondering why there aren't any charges for boat insurance, we paid these up front for the year in April (you can see the details here).

TRANSPORT | Total = $26.37

This category is for costs related to our vehicle, mostly for gas to keep it going and drive into the nearby "big city" of Stuart for errands. Gas is so cheap these days that I've really been able to keep these costs down.

If you're wondering, we paid our car insurance up front for the year in April, which is why you don't see it here ($909 for liability).

MEDICAL EXPENSES | Total = $54.75

This category includes medical expenses outside of our monthly insurance premium (which aren't included here - see section on exclusions above), like over the counter medications, prescriptions and things for our medical kit. It also includes the costs of doctors visits and medical tests which aren't covered by our insurance.

OTHER | Total = $122.43

In this category, we break out how much we spend on clothes (like $4.33 for some flip-flops) and travel expenses. We also include a catch-all miscellaneous group for stuff that doesn't fit neatly anywhere else - things like laundry ($3.25 for a wash and dry at Indiantown Marina), new earbuds which actually fit in my abnormally small ears, a crock pot ($15), label maker and batteries.

So there you go - $2,175.21 will buy you two months in Indiantown Marina and a few things for your boat! Did we spend more or less than you would have expected?

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Musings On Personality Type & Writing Style (ISWG)

Back when I worked in the HR team in corporate la-la land, one of the things I did was put people into boxes. Not literal boxes – that would be weird, even for me. And cruel – unless you put air holes in the boxes.

Instead, I helped people figure out what personality type best fit them using a variety of psychometric instruments, including the Myers-Briggs Personality Indicator (MBTI). One of the things I like about MBTI is that you can put yourself into a tidy little box based upon your personality type. Orderly grids appeal to me – probably a reflection of my own MBTI type (INTJ by the way).

MBTI draws on Carl Jung’s theory of psychological types and provides a way to understand your own personality type based upon four dichotomies:

• Favorite World – Do you prefer to focus on the outer world (Extraversion) or your own inner world (Introversion)?
• Information – Do you prefer to focus on the basic information you take in (Sensing) or do you prefer to interpret and add meaning (Intuition)?
• Decisions – When making decisions, do you prefer to to first look at logic and consistency (Thinking) or first look at the people and special circumstances (Feeling)?
• Structure – In dealing with the outside world, do you prefer to get things decided (Judging) or do you prefer to stay open to new options and information (Perceiving)?

Based upon your preference for each dichotomy, you can decide which personality type best fits you and climb into your own box, which is labeled with a handy-dandy four letter code. For example, I’m an INTJ – I prefer Introversion, Intuition, Thinking and Judging. {Note: The code for Intuition is the letter “N” as the letter “I” is used for Introversion.}

Lately, I’ve been happily sitting inside my box (complete with air holes) on the upper right hand corner of the grid, munching away on Oreo cookies and reflecting on the link between personality type and creativity, and more specifically how being an INTJ affects my writing style and finishing the draft mystery novel I’ve been working on. Here’s some of the things I’ve been thinking about – maybe some of them ring true for you too.

1 – I really can’t talk about it.

My husband will often ask me how the writing is going and want to chat through the characters, plotline etc. I’m really lucky to have someone who is so wonderfully supportive, but I just don’t have anything to share with him – yet. One of these days, I will. But not just now. I think this is due, in part, to the fact that I have a preference for introversion. I like to process things internally. I need to figure absolutely everything out in my head before I can talk about it. Until then, I’m not really able to articulate anything because things are still evolving.

I was one of those people that wasn’t really great at brainstorming exercises at work. You know the ones where everybody has to shout out their ideas, no matter how random or ill-formed. We were all supposed to feed off of each other, build on each others’ ideas to create something fabulous together. Yeah, that’s not really how I work. I’m much happier creating everything inside my head by myself. Then I’ll be happy to share.

2 – I don’t really want to hear what you think.

The downside of an introverted approach can be that once I’ve figured everything out, once my characters are fully developed and my plot is fully formed, then I have closure. I’m finished. I’m done. Things are neatly tied up with a pretty bow. I’ll happily present my ideas to you, watch you untie the bow, open the box and await your feedback. Provided your feedback consists of “Well done!” and “It’s perfect!”

That’s where my preference for Judging comes into play. I like closure. I like to have things decided and done with. Once I’ve figured everything out, then I can have a hard time opening myself up to new ideas and input on how to change things for the better. Intellectually, I know that all novels go through a gazillion rewrites and what you end up with can be markedly different then what you started out with. I also know that getting feedback from others will help immensely. But, I know this will also be a struggle for me because I don’t really like to change things once I’ve finished them.

3 – Do I really have to spell it out for you?

One of the strengths of INTJs can be their ability to weed out information and detail that isn’t useful. However, sometimes this can result in a narrative that’s too sparse. Writing that’s sparse can be wonderful – it’s crisp, to the point, keeps the action moving forward and allows the reader to fill in the detail with their own imagination. But, at times, it can leave the reader at a loss. There isn’t enough of the right kind of detail for the reader to engage fully with the story.

In rereading some of my earlier drafts, I’ve noted a tendency towards a bit too much sparseness, especially when it comes to describing where the action is happening. My novel takes place at a marina and involves some mysterious happenings on a sailboat. Readers that know a thing or two about sailing and boats probably don’t need too much detail to understand what’s taking place, but non-sailors will probably be clueless. So, that’s something I’m currently working on – providing enough detail to engage the reader, but without becoming tedious and distracting from the story line.

****

Well, that’s probably enough reflection from inside my box. I’ve run out of Oreo cookies and the air is becoming a bit stagnant in here, so I’m going to get out, go for a walk around the marina and get some inspiration for my next writing session.

If you want to learn more about MBTI, check out the Myers & Briggs Foundation. If you’re interested in exploring your own preferences, you might want to check out one of the free questionnaires available on the internet, such as this one and this one. For a deeper understanding, you might want to use the official MBTI instrument administered by a qualified MBTI user who can help you understand and interpret your results.

Want to have some more fun with MBTI? Then check out this list of MBTI types of famous authors and this post about MBTI and character development (it also has a fun Star Wars MBTI type table if you’re so inclined).

Do you know what your MBTI type is? How does it affect your creative pursuits, everyday life and approach to work?

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January In Numbers

Clockwise from upper left: (1) Look, another Moody 346 at Indiantown Marina!; (2) Another gloomy day at the marina with tornadoes and high winds on their way; (3) The farmers regularly burn the sugar cane fields which leaves ash everywhere; (4) I got a little carried away with my label maker; (5) My favorite kind of alligators - the ones that don't move; (6) Why didn't anyone ever tell me how delicious Dark N'Stormies are - yum!

It's time for our monthly recap of what's been happening by the numbers. It's hard to believe we're already one month down in the new year - only eleven more to go until 2017. January was a pretty social month - a mix of meeting new people, reconnecting with old pals and getting silly with friends at the marina. We also had some extreme weather to contend with. Alternating between using my space heater and air conditioner in the span of one month seems a little surreal.

• 4 - Number of people I met in real life after connecting with them via social media. Stacey and Jesse (along with their dog Summer) from S/V Smitty and Laura and Hans (along with their dog Wilbur) from Knotty Cat Tales. Stacey and Jesse hauled out their boat at Indiantown Marina to do the bottom paint before resuming their way down south and off to the Bahamas. After "talking" with them via our blogs and Facebook, it was nice to hang out with them while they were here. Laura had contacted me to say that they would be at the marina getting their boat out of storage. It was fun getting to know her and Hans at the marina BBQ and potluck.
• 3 - Number of Moody 346 sailboats at Indiantown Marina at one time. Moody 346 sailboats are not all that common in North America, so the odds of this happening are pretty rare. There was our boat, Tickety Boo, the Moody 346 that has been stored here for years and Guy and Sylvia's boat, Pura Vida. Guy and I had been in touch via email and we got to meet up when they passed through the marina on their way from the Gulf Coast to the Atlantic Coast via the Okeechobee Waterway. They're such a lovely couple and it was so much fun to see their boat and compare notes. 
• 2 - Number of days of torrential rain. The kind of rain where you start to make plans with your marina pals about gathering up the animals in pairs in some sort of modern day Noah's Ark flotilla. I called dibs on the cats. There was no way I was going to be responsible for saving the alligators. 
• 1 - Number of tornadoes that formed just to the east of us. We had a couple of days of tornado watches and warnings along with wind gusts of 50+ miles per hour. Scary stuff, especially when you realize there is absolutely no place to shelter nearby if a tornado did touch down.
• 38 - The lowest temperature during January. Sure, this is nothing compared to what people deal with up north, but this is southern Florida. It just doesn't seem right to have to wear two pairs of socks and leggings under your jeans in order to stay warm.
• 7 - Number of adorable goats that I wanted to adopt at the South Florida State Fair. They're so cute! I had a fun outing to the fair with some pals that Scott and I met last year when we were camping in our Scamper. Pig races, cheesy bands and greasy fair food - a good day out.
• 4 - Number of batches of pretzels I made for potlucks at the marina.  
• 1 - Number of French coffee presses I broke. It was a tragic moment when I accidentally knocked it over into the sink and it shattered. A day without coffee on Tickety Boo can be unpleasant for everyone. I did manage to Macgyver a makeshift coffee press out of a plastic cup and the salvaged plunger from the broken one which will see me through until I can find a replacement one. I'm thinking plastic might be the way to go for this next one. 
• $21.17 - How much my Dremel hot knife cost me on Amazon. I tested it out with Michele from Sailing Wind Spirit and it works just fine for cutting Sunbrella fabric. Compare that to the Sailrite one, which goes for over $100, and I think we've found a winner.
• $225.29 - How much I spent on groceries last month. I'm determined to cut this amount drastically during February as part of my grocery challenge. 

Hope you had a great start to the new year during January and have an even more wonderful February. Don't forget it's a leap year - 29 days of fun to be had during this coming month!

In case you missed them, here are some of our favorite posts from January:

A Different Kind of Doorway | The Quirkiness of Boat Living
Extreme Penny Pinching
It's a Long Story

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