August 2026
As you can see, my writing studio has temporarily relocated. Andrew and I are on our sailboat for a three-to-four-week cruise along the Maine coast. Most days, I find time to spread out and edit what I’ve written so far of my book. About 75% is drafted but, as is always the case with a draft, it needs editing. Andrew is my first reader; the second is a critique group with two other authors. All three readers have been tremendously helpful in everything from word choice to thematic development. In 2027, I plan to start working with a professional editor and have the manuscript submitted to my publisher before the end of next year.
The rhythm of working on the boat is different than at home, and it suits me well. Here I work in shorter chunks of time, usually editing one chapter about a tradeswoman I interviewed and the historical chapter related to her. Then it’s time to get under way. Andrew, as some of you know, has strong sailing credentials (navigator in the Navy, licensed by the Coast Guard) but he can use my help when raising the sails. We also take turns at the helm.
At this pace, I probably will be editing for the entire cruise, but I’m finding that this slow way of working is beneficial. After I’ve put the manuscript aside, my mind ranges freely, without being tied to what’s already on the page. In the afternoon or evening, or sometimes in the middle of the night, a better way to phrase something comes to me. Or a theme that lies buried among the words reveals itself. The work never leaves me but taking time away from actively writing or editing allows me to see things with a fresh eye.
Back when I was writing legal briefs, I did not think about writing the way I do now. Because I often had a deadline, staying at my desk and writing was the only way to get the work done. Plus, the personal insights and bursts of creativity that make their way into a narrative work, even one of nonfiction, are outside the parameters of a court filing.
On our way down the coast, we’ve run across some interesting sights. First, we saw the schooner Bowdoin moored in Rockland Harbor. She was built in 1921, just eight years before our boat, for Admiral Donald MacMillan who used it to explore the Arctic. In over 30 voyages, he tested systems for naval aviation and radio communication, and collected information on Arctic topography, tides, weather, native peoples and their culture. During World War II, he used Bowdoin to patrol northern Greenland for the Navy.
Admiral Donald MacMillan
Eventually Captain Mac (as he was known) donated Bowdoin to Mystic Seaport but Mystic didn’t have the funds needed to restore and maintain her. She was in bad shape when another sailor from Maine, Captain Jim Sharp, decided to restore her. For about a year he and a team of helpers worked on Bowdoin before sailing her to Provincetown where Captain Mac was then living. Entering the harbor in thick fog, they blew the ship’s horn and the admiral, hearing the horn, came out on the deck of his home and rang a bell. The fog lifted and Captain Mac, then 95 years old, was reunited with his beloved schooner. In less than a year, he was dead.
In 1988, Maine Maritime Academy purchased Bowdoin as a training vessel. Maritime cadets have sailed her to Greenland, Nova Scotia, Labrador and Newfoundland, and to two French islands off the coast of Newfoundland, St. Pierre and Miquelon.
When we reached Castine, Maine Maritime’s latest training vessel, State of Maine, was at the dock. Five similar ships were built for the U.S. Department of Transportation – Maritime Administration and are now used by maritime academies in Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Texas and California. With a length of 525 feet, State of Maine is significantly longer than Bowdoin’s 83 feet. Six hundred cadets sail and learn in up-to-the-minute classrooms and labs. Maine Maritime, it seems, values both traditional and contemporary modes of being at sea.
State of Maine, Castine
Another part of cruising is going ashore and exploring towns along the coast and we did just that in Somesville, at the head of Somes Sound on Mount Desert Island. The Gallery at Somes Sound had unusually beautiful pictures by local artists. Here’s just one example.
Eline Barclay, Frenchman Bay Series, Winter Sea, Schoodic
We also visited the Somesville Library. The idea for a library took root in the 1880s when the local Ladies Aid Society collected books and lent them to town residents. Soon, the ladies became more ambitious and began raising funds for a real library. After several years of baked bean suppers, bake sales, dances and rummage sales, they had enough money for land and construction. Today, the building stands where it has always been, next to the shore, with one large room and two adjacent rooms, where children’s books and used books to be sold are housed. We had a nice talk with the librarian who couldn’t have been more welcoming to us visitors “from away.” On August 8, the library will host its annual Books and Blueberries sale. I’m not likely to move to Somesville but, if I did, I know this is where I would spend time.
Speaking of books, I’d love for you to tell me what you’re reading this summer. I’d like to update my TBR list, and also share your recommendations in a newsletter this fall.
For my part, I just finished Stefan Zweig’s Chess (a long short story). I found it well-crafted, with unpredictable plot twists, and reflective of Vienna under Nazi occupation. Now I’m just starting Niall Williams’s This Is Happinesswhich, in September, I’ll be discussing with 5 women who were in my high school class. We get together about every other month to catch up and discuss a book. I’m also working my way through a stack of unread New Yorker magazines. Needless to say, when we finish the cruise, there will be a new stack waiting for me. Some evenings, we read aloud and we started with Lauren Groff’s recent story collection Brawler. My impression so far: edgy, delivered with some subtlety.
Thanks for reading, and thanks for sending me your book recommendations. If you have a friend who would be interested in what I’m up to, please feel free to forward this newsletter. Anyone can subscribe to keep up with my latest news, bookish and otherwise, and to stay in touch. Just visit my website and sign up on the newsletter page. https://kathleencstone.com
