Picture of the Day: 

A peace rose, donated by America to Ireland! 

Quote of the Day: 

"Quit now, you'll never make it. If you disregard this advice, you'll be halfway there." 

-David Zucker

Hello, reader! Once more I bring myself back to the old haunts of the weblog, and once more I have some news for you. I have reached chapter eight of my novel, and am steadily pressing onward. I have been whispering to myself that I am wasting my time, that I shall never be able to get published and that nobody would read this story anyway, but for some reason, I cannot shake my routine of writing. Maybe, like Mr. Zucker has said, if I disregard that advice, I am halfway there. 

I have been doing ample amounts of research for my story, generally looking at old naval terms, and legends that would be fun to play with over the course of the novel. To do this, I have purchased the book Pirates: Scourge of the Seas by John Reeve Carpenter. While in no means the best book in the world, it is a compact guide to absolutely everything. It has a small glossary, ship designs and descriptions, songs, piratical punishments, famous pirates, an account of food and clothing, weapons and battle tactics and various legends that have to deal with pirates and nautical things. This book has been invaluable, as it can come where wireless cannot reach very easily--and only cost me $10.00. 

I have adopted a few of the myths and superstitions to play with in my novel, but there are a few that are simply too recognizable. Like the Flying Dutchman. Nonetheless, I read the little account this book has and found it super interesting. For fellow trivia-geeks, I shall post an excerpt from this book. You never know when this may be the million-dollar question! 

According to pirate folklore, the Flying Dutchman is a ghost ship that can never return to shore and is forced to sail the ocean for an eternity with its crew of dead souls. There are numerous versions of the story. In some, the captain is allowed to return to shore once every hundred years to find a woman. In Richard Wagner's opera of the same name, it is every seven years. Anyone who sees the ship will die a horrible death. 

In most versions of the legend, the ghost ship was the result of a captain trying to round the Cape of Good Hope at all costs. Others refer to some terrible crime that was committed on board, or the crew catching the plague and the boat being unable to dock. Some sources point to a seventeenth-century Dutch captain, Bernard Fokke, who sailed so quickly from Holland to Indonesia that he was thought to have sold his soul to the Devil. 

Whenever a storm brews off the Cape of Good Hope, it is said that anyone looking into the eye of the storm will see the Flying Dutchman. 

The officer of the watch of the Royal Navy ship the Bacchante described an encounter with the Flying Dutchman while rounding the Cape of Good Hope on July 11, 1881: "A strange red light as of a phantom ship all aglow, in the midst of which light the masts, spars and sails of a brig 200 yards distant stood out in strong relief." Soon afterwards, he fell from the mast to his death.

It is a strange, and highly interesting account of this myth. I found it hauntingly interesting. I hope you did, as well! And, if you ever find yourself on the Cape of Good Hope in a storm, do not under any circumstances look into the eye of the storm!

Basically, progress has remained steady. If this pace keeps up, I may finish the novel's first draft by Christmas! (This would make me undeniably the happiest person on earth!) I will keep you closely involved, reader. The minute I begin to think about publication, I will let you know and take you with me on that journey, too.

Happy writing!

And, if you are not one for the penned art, happy reading. It takes both to make our world such a wonderful place.