May I break slightly with the zeitgeist this month to wish you joy?
Whatever else you may be feeling — outrage, fatigue, fear — or any other legitimate human response to pandemics, politics, and economics, is right and good. I only gently invite you to join me in appreciation for what we do have in this moment, in balance with what we don't.
The loved ones who are healthy today, and may not always be so. The choices we have that many people throughout history have not. For education, travel, and global cuisine. For Safari Cams.
For the amazing fiction out there. My latest fave is Janet Fitch's extraordinary The Revolution of Marina M. (No affiliate links here, just genuine love.)
Yes — I am as Californian as they come, and my gratitude is a phenomenally stubborn beast, but I can't personally help but be thankful for:
The outpouring of support for the awards and audiobook launch of The Prisoner's Apprentice.
The opportunity to add onto book club Zooms a super fun in-person backyard extravaganza.
And other personal highlights of the past month that included a family wedding, a deer napping in my backyard, daysails on San Francisco Bay, and a ride on a carousel.
So may July bring you joy and all sorts of delights to add to your own gratitude list. (I'd be honored to see it. Just hit reply if you feel like sharing.)
All my best,
Cheyenne
For Readers
I've started work on the next novel with high hopes to beat my 20-years per novel writing record. Ha! My intention is to become a novel-per-year writer, and you can be my accountability buddy as I try that out. As of today, I have a high-level outline, a cast of fascinating characters, and a lot of excitement. Let's see if I can turn some of that into pages by next month.
I'll keep the details close for now, but you can rest assured it will be another Historical Psychological Thriller. That seems to be my thing.
For Writers
If I've learned one thing about writing a novel, it's that there is not one way to write a novel. I'm a massive fan of experimenting and finding out what works best for you. But if you want to experiment with outlining, and already have a grasp of the three-act structure, you may want to consider Libbie Hawker's Take Off Your Pants! method as a really interesting framework. It not only helped drive the outline for my work-in-progress, but deepened my character development as well. One more thing I'm grateful for. :)
For Sailors
Colin and I are continuing our quest to find Pristine II and will visit France in July to check out three aluminum sailboat makers: Alubat (Ovni), Boréal, and Garcia. Our priorities are to find something in the 45-foot range that's safe for crossing oceans, independent enough to be off the grid for long stretches, and comfortable enough to be our floating home for many years to come. We're also considering used boats, thought that's a bit of a needle-in-a-haystack proposition for our bombproof + luxury-lite criteria. Just hit reply if you'd like details of what we're looking for and I can put together a post for next month. Or certainly let me know if you think you may have identified the perfect boat for our next adventures. We're all ears. :)
