A Little Editorial Therapy
As many of you are now no doubt aware, Hurricane Jimena hit Santa Rosalia square on. With winds from the east of upwards of 90 knots and an enormous swirling surf, the safety of the boats was by no means certain. The safety of ourselves was by no means certain. Just as I’ve been told that telling a particularly harrowing birth story can make the whole thing easier to put behind a woman, I’ve been using writing to work through my own issues regarding this experience.
I never promised that Toast Floats would be a strictly accurate, autobiographical account of our cruising life. It is probably pretty clear that many of the articles are somewhat fictionalized exaggerations. I take liberties with the order of events, the exact dialog, stretch the truth a bit. I attempt to interweave current, topical bits with stuff I may have written months ago and like to have a least three weeks to two months in the blogger queue in case I can’t get online. And while I enjoy writing the informational articles with tips and ideas on how to cruise, I mostly use Toast Floats as a way to have fun, to explore a style of writing which is the antithesis of the regimented, formulaic composition required of my profession.
However, I’m afraid this time my own needs are going to take precedence over keeping Toast Floats a humor blog. I need to get this stuff out of my system before I feel I can move on or write about anything else. So for the next month or so, I’ll gradually write, edit and reedit the hurricane related content. Most of the content is autobiographical, some a technical post mortem of what worked and didn’t work, much of it serious and a portion of it highly emotional. I thought to mix it with the lighter pieces I drafted while on the road with my family in the United States, but I think I'll just get it over with instead. It’s probably going to be a bit of a slog for long time readers who usually expect a chuckle from their toast-feed.
Please be patient with me. I’m a resilient, irrepressible personality. My mommy told me so. I’ll get back to the fun stuff sooner than even I probably think possible at the moment.
I never promised that Toast Floats would be a strictly accurate, autobiographical account of our cruising life. It is probably pretty clear that many of the articles are somewhat fictionalized exaggerations. I take liberties with the order of events, the exact dialog, stretch the truth a bit. I attempt to interweave current, topical bits with stuff I may have written months ago and like to have a least three weeks to two months in the blogger queue in case I can’t get online. And while I enjoy writing the informational articles with tips and ideas on how to cruise, I mostly use Toast Floats as a way to have fun, to explore a style of writing which is the antithesis of the regimented, formulaic composition required of my profession.
However, I’m afraid this time my own needs are going to take precedence over keeping Toast Floats a humor blog. I need to get this stuff out of my system before I feel I can move on or write about anything else. So for the next month or so, I’ll gradually write, edit and reedit the hurricane related content. Most of the content is autobiographical, some a technical post mortem of what worked and didn’t work, much of it serious and a portion of it highly emotional. I thought to mix it with the lighter pieces I drafted while on the road with my family in the United States, but I think I'll just get it over with instead. It’s probably going to be a bit of a slog for long time readers who usually expect a chuckle from their toast-feed.
Please be patient with me. I’m a resilient, irrepressible personality. My mommy told me so. I’ll get back to the fun stuff sooner than even I probably think possible at the moment.