Stories About Reading and Writing Historical Fiction

How I came to write The Prisoner's Apprentice: Post 3 of 3 (1, 2)

Once I’d finally accepted that the only way to get Rulloff out of my head was to write a novel about him, I assumed the best way forward was the direct path, to write the story from his viewpoint and let him explain...

How I came to write The Prisoner's Apprentice: Post 2 of 3 (1, 3)

Once a seed like your great-great-grand-uncle murdered a bunch of people gets planted, no matter how much you want to ignore it, you're powerless against the enormity of the questions that roil inside you. So I gave in...

How I came to write The Prisoner's Apprentice: Post 1 of 3 (2, 3)

I didn’t start out to write a book about a serial killer—never consciously chose the darkest corners of the soul as a neat place to spend several years of my life. I’ve never been a noir kind of girl. In...

You don’t need reminding that 2020 brought a heap of surprises.

For the crew of Pristine, the year meant a series of unexpected pivots. We didn’t cross an ocean or frolic among the atolls as we’d planned, but like many curveballs, 2020 brought gifts to the back door even as...

Just ask Ernest Shackleton.

True, our Baja Bash didn’t involve icebergs or Southern Ocean storms, but the name of his ill-fated ship could have been the theme for our more recent journey: Endurance.

In some ways, our 800 mile trip from Cabo San Lucas to San Diego was routine for a Baja...

For Colin and I, the tectonic Covid-19 shift revealed itself slowly, then all at once.

We were a week away from departure for the South Pacific when Tonga closed its borders. Bummer, we thought, but we’d work around it. Then the Cook Islands followed suit, and we were sad, but a bit like...

Even if you’re not a sailor, you’ve probably heard that a tidy boat is a safe boat.

That whole place for everything and everything in its place thing. Perhaps it sounds like a worthy ideal that’s never really needed, like the earthquake kit in your garage circa...

It was my first shift of our first night passage in six months and for the life of me, I couldn't figure out what was just ahead.

After umpteen hours of sailing into twenty-knots-on-the-nose, the wind had petered out and the quiet whisper of sails had given way to the mechanical chug of pistons....

I call it the Losing-My-Sh*t pose.

To my knowledge, there’s no official name for the advanced yoga maneuver that involves wedging yourself between the galley and nav station, balancing on one foot and one knee while trying to achieve the extension and leverage required to scrub...

Because once you how a tropical cyclone thrives, you know how to avoid one.

There are hundreds of rules for sailors, but Colin and I live by a single one that so dominates the others it deserves all caps: MOTHER NATURE IS IN CHARGE.

This means that if she doesn’t want us to sail...

It’s a unique experience to wake up, step in the shower, and find a razor-toothed predator.

Colin and I live a pretty clean life on Pristine, bathing every morning in the world’s biggest bathtub, scrubbing down in the cockpit, then rinsing off the salt with a spritz of fresh...

The seagull standing on a rock set off alarm bells. We were supposed to be in 1500 feet of water. What rock??

The binoculars came out immediately. Magnified, the rock took the form of a big, upside-down salad bowl. Also, it was moving. 

We grinned at each other like five-year-olds handed ice...

After sailing 2500 miles to find warmth and waves, it was time to break out the toys.

There’s something about taking the slow boat that improves one’s sense of geography immeasurably. Did you know Mexico is the 13th largest country in the world? There are literally 3500 miles of...

The cruising life involves some hefty contrasts.

After a week surrounded by beach umbrellas and construction cranes, Colin and I sailed a mere 90 miles and arrived 9,000 years back in time at a prehistoric island dubbed the Galapagos of Mexico.

As dawn broke after an overnight passage,...

A Señor Frog’s tourist trap or a cultural and culinary paradise?

Yes, and yes.

If you have one week to build sandcastles with the kids, squeeze limes into beer, and sunburn your butt, Mazatlán has you covered. Since Colin and I lead a uniquely sun-filled life, we opted to...

Well, almost.

We weren’t exactly crossing the Pacific, but Colin and I were heading from Baja to Mazatlán, a journey of roughly 200 nautical miles across the Sea of Cortez. Depending on the winds, we’d be out of sight of land for 2-3 days. If anything went awry, we could be 100...

Last Christmas, the length of our to-do list would have overwhelmed Santa.

Colin and I were hip deep in selling our furniture, renting our house, prepping the boat for its new role in our lives and trying like mad to squeeze in time to see friends and family. Today, we’re waking up to...

We hope you are enjoying a very Feliz Navidad and will have quite the Prospero Año Nuevo as well.

While we really miss our beloved family and friends, we’re also enormously grateful we get to spend a very memorable holiday season in a very special place. We arrived in La Paz...

Start with a three-day coastal passage from Ensenada to Turtle Bay, delayed by missing wind until departure falls smack on Thanksgiving.

Next, consider carefully what festive holiday dish can be made using only the ingredients you have on board, the preparation or consuming of which is not...

When this sailing dream was new and fragile, I probably talked about it a little too often.

The common concerns I inevitably heard voiced—storms, rogue waves, and a variety of scenes that all led to sinking—I had carefully prepared answers for. Besides the technical marvels of...

“We must come down from our heights, and leave our straight paths, for the byways and low places of life, if we would learn truths by strong contrasts; and in hovels, in forecastles, and among our own outcasts in foreign lands, see what has been wrought upon our fellow-creatures by...

General Santa Ana was an unpredictable, shape-shifting politician and dubious military leader who helped Mexico gain independence from Spain, then lost more than half her territory to the U.S. There are various origin stories for the wind phenomenon that shares his name, but one thing’s for...

The trolling line, which had been quiet since we left Santa Cruz Island, suddenly screamed into life like a swarm of angry bees.

”Colin!” I yelled. “Fish ON!” 

He’d been up at the bow, pointing at the eruption of wildlife all around Anacapa—pods of...

Sailing Pristine: the Maintenance Issue

For those of you who open Pristine’s adventures for soothing photos of paradise to help you through your workday, we’re afraid we will disappoint you this time around. For those who want a more realistic picture of what cruising is actually...