I had a successful career as an engineer and business leader until July 2015, when I quit my job to embark on a sailing voyage from San Francisco to New York. I started a blog as I began preparing for the voyage and posted to it regularly over the four years it took me to reach my destination. The blog was an opportunity for me to get in the habit of writing and begin discovering my writing voice and style.
A lot happened to me personally during my sailing voyage. I struggled with love, relationships, my mental health and sense of self. I kept of journal of my personal life, a private companion to my public blog. Writing about my most intimate thoughts and feelings was very new for me. As I grew more comfortable writing about my private life, I also grew more comfortable with sharing some of it through my writing.
My first book, Sailing Intermezzo, The Voyage, combines the writing for my blog with excerpts and insights from my personal journal, weaving my sailing and love stories together. Writing this book revealed to me the art of writing through the pain of the process, the satisfaction of completion, the vulnerability of publication.
Writing is now part of who I am, how I am. I continue to write for my blog, am exploring new short-format writing platforms, and hope to begin my next book soon.
I write for enjoyment, to examine my life, to express myself, and to connect to others.