Thank you for joining us for our fourth installment in our exclusive interview with award-winning author Sherry Ann Miller. If you missed parts one, two, or three, click here.
Sherry Ann, I notice you mention sailing frequently in your books, and you talk about it like someone who knows. Can you tell us about your sailing experience?
In 1992, my son was still quite ill following an accident with a motorcycle that damaged his heart. Hubby and I took him to Oceanside, California, to a condo where he could rest on the beach and soak up some sunshine. One day, hubby and son decided they would like to go sailing. They chartered a sailing vessel and captain for an afternoon of sailing. I told them I would be content to sit on a bench and watch them sail. I absolutely did not want to get on that sailboat. My father had dreamed of sailing around the world, and had instilled this dream in my siblings, but I was too afraid of sharks to even consider the idea.
Hubby and son literally dragged me onto that sailboat, where I sat shivering in fear in the cockpit while the able captain maneuvered the vessel out of the slip and into the Pacific Ocean. Then, he set the sails to catch the wind and turned off the engine. A remarkable thing happened. The only sounds were the wind in the rigging and the slurping of water along the hull. I was captivated, and fell in love with sailing from that moment on. I’m so thankful hubby and son dragged me aboard that day.
We returned to Utah where our son was finally diagnosed properly and a dual-lead pacemaker was put into his chest. Then, hubby and I found a little 21′ Catalina sailboat that we took to Flaming Gorge and learned to sail. Later, we moved the vessel up to Bear Lake, where we thoroughly enjoyed the wind and water. The problem with sailing is that about every two years, you get what is called “four-foot-itis” . . . meaning you want a bigger boat. We located a 26′ Erickson sloop and bought it. Hubby had a trailer built for it. We christened it the Shoosey-Q (which is the nickname my father gave me), and dumped it into Bear Lake, where we had a slip at the marina and spent most Saturdays. Sure enough. In 1998, we developed another case of “four-foot-itis”. We put the Erickson on the market, thinking it might sell in a year or so, and started looking for a larger boat, one that was sea-worthy and capable of going anywhere in the world. To our joy (and dismay), our Erickson sold almost immediately. So here we were, two sailors and one whole summer without a vessel! What a disgraceful position for two sailors to find themselves!
We decided the kind of boat we wanted was a Cape Dory 36 Cutter. We found two nice Cape Dorys on the East Coast and went home thinking we were going to need to hire a ship moving company to haul one of them to the West Coast. As I started to look for a ship moving company, I wondered if it was possible to find a Cape Dory on the West Coast. Hubby went online and located three. I then emailed all three of them, and told them we were looking for a Cape Dory on the West Coast. To our astonishment, the owner from Puget Sound wrote back, “as a matter of fact, ours is for sale and here’s the name of our broker.” Long story short: on December 31st, 1999, we sailed our Cape Dory across Puget Sound to Liberty Bay at Poulsbo, Washington (my most favorite city in the entire world), and spent the night aboard her at Liberty Bay Marina, where we hailed in the New Millennium.
Since then, we have been sailing often. We’ve learned enough about sailing and the sea to take the US Coast Guard Boating Safety course and passed. We now have our US Coast Guard Boating Achievement cards, and we’ve finally logged in enough sailing hours to take the US Coast Guard’s Captain’s License tests. We just haven’t done that, yet. We want to, but I think we’re both what you would call “chicken little.”
When I first met my hubby, I told him I wanted to be a marine biologist. Instead, I married and became a mother. Now, as a grandmother, I live in a place where I can explore marine biology to my heart’s content, but the icing on the cake is being able to sail anywhere I choose to study all the marine life I want. Hubby and I have taken two summers and sailed up into British Columbia waters. We have plans to sail up to the Broughton Islands, B.C., in the summer of 2008.
Wow – you almost make me want to go for a boat ride! Almost. (I get seasick.) Now, what is your writing schedule like?
When I write the first rough draft, it takes about two weeks (excluding Sunday) of sixteen-hour days. Then, I put the manuscript aside and work on something else for at least two weeks. This gives me a chance to recover from the intense writing regimen. I find if I write in increments, I lose continuity and the story’s momentum does not carry any impact. I have to keep going once I’ve started until I reach the ending. A cooling down period follows, then the rewrites begin. When I rewrite, I prefer to do so on hard copy, using a big red pencil. Then, I make the changes needed on the computer. Then, I read straight through on the computer and make changes as I go. Tightening. Adding color. Clarifying.
When I feel the manuscript is as tight as I can make it, I send it to two editors who are really great at their task. One of these is brutal. He has no qualms about ripping my manuscript to shreds, grammatically. But, he has taught me so much that I cannot get discouraged by all the errors he finds in my manuscript. He’s really good at what he does. The other editor is less brutal but she is nit-picky. She’s very good at spotting typos and electronic errors. She knows her spelling/syntax/grammar very well, yet she still manages to be kind. After my editors get through with the manuscript, I go through and make all their changes (if I deem them necessary). Then, I print the manuscript up, and take it to bed with me. I read it straight through, red-pencil circling anything that still isn’t clear, crisp or colorful. I make these final changes, then print up the manuscript and send it off to my publisher. Normally, I write two novels a year, and work on one family history (research and writing).
Thank you for sharing this part of yourself with us, Sherry Ann.
We’ll conclude our interview tomorrow. In the meantime, be sure to visit Sherry Ann’s website.
Related Blogs:
Elliot’s Bath and Elliot’s Shipwreck
Things to Know Before You Buy the Family Boat or Watercraft