The notorious Kenyan coastal winds and current have plastered us up Kilifi Creek for 4 months! But what a great place to get "stuck"! We made some good friends at the Kilifi Boat Yard, with twice-weekly meals and yachtie gatherings. We had easy walks into the small town where 2 good supermarkets supplied all that we needed. Except fly swatters.... but that's another story. Just last week the season changed, and we were able to make the first of a three-day hop down the coast towards the Tanzanian border, sailing in light easterly winds. What a treat!
So the boat's moving. And my writing is also moving along!
The collaborative book I'm writing with 2 other memoirists, called Memoir Matters: What it Really Takes to Write your Story, is heading off to a 3rd party editor in a couple weeks.
And on Substack I've been building a community of memoir and travel writers. I'd love you to join me there. You'll get to read scenes that might appear in Boots to Bare Feet as I draft them. Yes, I'm finally seriously working on the sequel to Heels to Hiking Boots!
My first Boots post, Dressing up in Tokyo is a scene that took place in the winter of 1980. I was 31, newly married, and suddenly felt 15. Figuring out what goes into a memoir and what doesn't is a fun challenge. I'm choosing scenes that show who I was at the beginning of that one-year trip, and what happened that explore what that trip meant to both Jon and me as we traveled from Asia to Nepal, southern Africa, and across to the Caribbean.
If you subscribe (it's free), you'll only get an email from me from when I post a new article. No general substack spam. Nothing else. You don't have to become a Substack member to read my posts. https://suemullerhacking.substack.com/
AND... If you're interested in how a memoir gets put together, and want to watch me question what goes in it and what stays out, then a paid subscription gets you behind the scenes. I created the memoir workshop for two reasons: first is to kick my own butt into getting this darn second memoir written (now being accountable to my subscribers!) and second to help you write your own memoir. Each post includes a reflection and prompt back to you, to help you take the next step in your own writing.
I'd love it if you would join my crew over there!
From the boat in Mtapa Creek, Kenya, just north of Mombasa. Sue
