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A Life Less Ordinary

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IWSG Writing Update October 2018 – Hurrah for Rain!

October 1, 2018 / / 34 Comments

Every first Wednesday of the month, the IWSG (Insecure Writer’s Support Group) engages writers to share their fears, thoughts, progress, struggles, excitement, encouragement, or anything really, about their writing. A different question is posed each month, as a writing prompt for IWSG members. Answering it is optional. For October, the question is: “How do major life events affect your writing? Has writing ever helped you through something?”

This amazing, supportive group of writers was founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh. Today, the co-hosts are Dolorah @ Book Lover,Christopher D. Votey,Tanya Miranda, and Chemist Ken. Feel free to swing by their sites and see what they’re up to.

My answer to the question (How do major life events affect your writing? Has writing ever helped you through something?)

This month’s question is a personal one. As long as I remember, I’ve written a diary, every day, for almost 30 years. I wouldn’t know whether this helped me through certain episodes, because of its daily occurrence, but I do know that the urge of writing has always been there, especially during major life events. What certainly has helped me through the years, are emails to my best friend Rosie. So, it might not have been with books or articles, blogs or diary entries, but communicating via the written word certainly is one of the best remedies for me during emotional times.

From the moment we arrived in Canada, it started raining. 🙂
Rainy walk in the city center
Queen Elizabeth Park

My (slow) book progress

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IWSG Writing Update September 2018 – Beta Reader Feedback

September 5, 2018 / / 59 Comments

Every first Wednesday of the month, the IWSG (Insecure Writer’s Support Group) engages writers to share their fears, thoughts, progress, struggles, excitement, encouragement, or anything really, about their writing. A different question is posed each month, as a writing prompt for IWSG members. Answering it is optional. For September, the question is: “What publishing path are you considering/did you take, and why?”

This amazing, supportive group of writers was founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh. Today, the co-hosts are  Toi Thomas,T. Powell Coltrin, M.J. Fifield, and Tara Tyler. Feel free to swing by their sites and see what they’re up to.

My answer to the question (What publishing path are you considering/did you take, and why?)

While I realize you can never plan too far ahead when it comes to the writing path, thinking about publishing my memoir while I haven’t touched the manuscript in months feels a bit presumptuous.  That being said, I have read about the pros and cons about traditional publishing and self-publishing. Author Jane Friedman has a ton of valuable articles about this topic on her website, with this blog post being all-encompassing.

In general, the indie way seems to offer most benefits in regards to publishing quickly, being able to print on demand (which is also cost-effective), and more freedom with the title, content and cover art. Yet, there is that one big (mis)belief about a higher success and accomplishment rate when an author manages to snatch a (renowned) publishing house. Going the traditional route, however, means creating a non-fiction book proposal, which is an entire project in itself. While the verdict is still out, I ought to start with rewriting parts of my memoir!

My book progress and why there has been none…

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Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – The Open House Sunday Interview – Freelance travel writer and photographer Liesbet Collaert

March 18, 2018 / / 10 Comments

via Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – The Open House Sunday Interview – Freelance travel writer and photographer Liesbet Collaert

This weekend, I am honored to be a guest on Sally Cronin’s blog Smorgasbord – Variety is the Spice of Life. 

Please, have a look at my interview, and leave a comment there, if you’d like!

My guest today is Liesbet Collaert who has a lifestyle that is very different to those of us who rarely stir from our comfort zones, except for the odd couple of weeks holiday.

Let’s find out more about Liesbet before finding out Belgium, her favourite leisure pastimes, the impact of modern technology and the five experiences we should all tick off our bucket list. Liesbet also shares some of her photographs from her travels which will certainly create wanderlust in most of us.

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Expense Report 2017

January 15, 2018 / / 23 Comments

Expenses - image

Every month, I post a report of our expenses to show that it is possible to live a comfortable, exciting and relatively adventurous life without breaking the bank. "The less money you spend, the less you need to make" is my motto. 🙂 2016 was the first full year that Mark and I lived on land as house and pet sitters, which means there is no rent to pay, wherever we end up. You can find my yearly expense overview of 2016 here. What follows is the break-down of how we spent our money in 2017.

This report includes ALL of our expenses, in US$, for the two of us. Under groceries we incorporate all the food, produce and non-alcoholic drinks predominantly bought in supermarkets. Toiletries belong in that category as well. Dining out means eating at a restaurant/event or purchasing take-out food. The health category covers non-prescription medicines and Mark's vitamins and supplements; medical contains prescription drugs and doctor's visits.

Health insurance and costs are related to my health care as a permanent resident in the US. Mark is still eligible for free health care in the state of Massachusetts as of today. If a non-emergency were to happen outside of that state, it will be expensive! For check-ups, we both return to the East Coast. I still pay a small quarterly fee in Belgium for health care (required to retain citizenship), which I mention in my year report. The utility cost refers to fees we paid for Skype, until we changed over to Google voice as our main phone service.

To be quite honest, I am disappointed and somewhat surprised at how much Mark and I spent in 2017. It is similar to our years aboard our sailboat Irie (2007-2015), and we don't even have those expensive boat repairs anymore. But, we bought a camper van this year (its purchase price is the only cost NOT included in this post), and fixing-up, equipping and "feeding" Zesty is not cheap. The car category covers money used for our Prius, which we sold in July, and our camper.

Swapping our Prius for an Airstream Westfalia camper van

All our plane rides from the West Coast to the East Coast and from Massachusetts to Belgium belong in the travel category.

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Monthly Expenses – October 2017

November 5, 2017 / / 29 Comments

Expenses - image

Every month, I post a report of our expenses to show that it is possible to live a comfortable, exciting and relatively adventurous life without breaking the bank. The less money you spend, the less you need to make. 🙂 That being said, Mark and I seem to manage one big expense a month for some reason, whether it is camper, plane, travel or computer-related. Luckily, we live totally rent-free, wherever we end up.

This report includes ALL of our expenses, in US$, for the two of us. Under groceries we incorporate all the food, produce and non-alcoholic drinks predominantly bought in supermarkets. Toiletries belong in that category as well. Dining out means eating at a restaurant/event or purchasing take-out food. The health category covers non-prescription medicines and Mark's vitamins and supplements; medical contains prescription drugs and doctor's visits. The utility category has disappeared, since we replaced our Skype phone service with Google Voice - the one-time fee for this was paid with our Skype reimbursement and there are no more monthly contributions.

Health insurance and costs are related to my health care as a permanent resident in the US. Mark is still eligible for free health care in the state of Massachusetts as of today. If a non-emergency were to happen outside of that state, it will be expensive! For check-ups, we both return to the East Coast. I still pay a small quarterly fee in Belgium for health care (required to keep my citizenship), which I mention in my year report.

Zesty the Westy continues to be our biggest expense: over $500 last month, mainly for fuel - we went on a long road trip visiting some national parks in Utah - and a high-altitude fuel pump so we could run our heater above 5000ft in Colorado and Utah. Not being cold anymore is worth something. We also spent $40 on accommodation - something we rarely do. Technically, I could record this amount under "travel". Usually, we overnight for free, but in Zion National Park we made an exception and paid for two nights of basic camping in the midst of the park's natural beauty.

All in all, October was not too crazy, considering we went on a two-week "vacation", exploring one of the most amazing states in this country, and Mark hopped on a plane to the East Coast. Next month, we are aiming to spend $1000 or less!

Free campground in Utah
Free campground in California

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IWSG Writing Update November 2017 – Just Because I Have To

November 1, 2017 / / 43 Comments

Every first Wednesday of the month, the IWSG (Insecure Writer’s Support Group) encourages writers to share their fears, thoughts, progress, struggles, excitement, encouragement or anything really about their writing. A different question is posed each month, as a writing prompt for IWSG members. Answering it is optional. For November, the question is “Win or not, do you usually finish your NaNo project? Have any of them gone on to be published?”

This amazing, supportive group of writers was founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh. Today, the accomplished co-hosts are Tonja Drecker, Diane Burton, MJ Fifield, and Rebecca Douglass. Feel free to swing by their sites and see what they are up to.

The answer to the question

The only NaNo I have ever heard of is the NaNoWriMo, which means National Novel Writing Month and takes place in November. I have never joined any NaNo challenge or competition and don’t know much about it. Checking out other writers’ blogs will provide you with more information. I do know that if I ever commit to such a project – if writing non-fiction is allowed – I would finish it. I hate to give up on goals and commitments.

My own book progress

Which brings me to my ongoing memoir project, which I have not given up on yet. That is the good news. The bad news – once again – is that progress has been minimal last month. After finishing a massive project for our business The Wirie, I had a couple of days left during our Colorado house sit to pick up the manuscript again. And, that was that. We had a thirteen day gap between being in the mountains and arriving at the coast in California for the next house sit. That time was happily spent exploring some National Parks in Utah and visiting with friends. Updates to follow soon.

Zion National Park

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Monthly Expenses – September 2017

October 6, 2017 / / 12 Comments

Expenses - image

Every month, I post a report of our expenses to show that it is possible to live a comfortable, exciting and relatively adventurous life without breaking the bank. The less money you spend, the less you need to make. 🙂 That being said, Mark and I seem to manage one big expense a month for some reason, whether it is camper, plane, travel or computer-related. Luckily, we live totally rent-free, wherever we end up.

This report includes ALL of our expenses, in US$, for the two of us. Under groceries we incorporate all the food, produce and non-alcoholic drinks (100% orange juice, almond milk for Mark and organic 2% milk for me) predominantly bought in supermarkets. Toiletries belong in that category as well. Dining out means eating at a restaurant/event or purchasing take-out food. The health category covers non-prescription medicines and Mark's vitamins and supplements; medical contains prescription drugs and doctor's visits. Utilities are always Skype-related, since that is how we make phone calls. 

Health insurance and costs are related to my health care as a permanent resident in the US. Mark is still eligible for free health care in the state of Massachusetts as of today. If a non-emergency were to happen outside of that state, it will be expensive! For check-ups, we both return to the East Coast. I still pay a small quarterly fee in Belgium for health care (required to keep my citizenship), which I mention in my year report.

Once again, we did not succeed to stay below $1000 in September. Our biggest expense category was - you guessed it -  Zesty the Westy. We were actually not doing too shabby, when Mark noticed a new top hatch come up for sale on eBay. He won the bid and bought the manual hatch (as a spare for our camper van) for $255. This a very reasonable price, knowing that an electric replacement (not our preference and that's why we worry ours, at 13 years old, might break any time) costs around US$1000 and needs to be shipped in from Europe. Now, the question is: where will we store this massive spare part without tripping over it?

Zesty at our current house sit in Colorado. The top hatch is that massive contraption, in the middle of the roof, above the side window and in front of the AC unit

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Monthly Expenses – August 2017

September 5, 2017 / / 4 Comments

Expenses - image

Every month, I post a report of our expenses to show that it is possible to live a comfortable, exciting and relatively adventurous life without breaking the bank. The less money you spend, the less you need to make. 🙂 That being said, Mark and I seem to manage one big expense a month for some reason, whether it is car, plane, travel or computer-related. Luckily, we live totally rent-free, wherever we end up.

This report includes ALL of our expenses, in US$, for the two of us. Under groceries we incorporate all the food, produce and non-alcoholic drinks (100% orange juice, almond milk for Mark and organic 2% milk for me) predominantly bought in supermarkets. Toiletries belong in that category as well. Dining out means eating at a restaurant/event or purchasing take-out food. The health category covers non-prescription medicines and Mark's vitamins and supplements; medical contains prescription drugs and doctor's visits. Utilities are always Skype-related, since that is how we make phone calls. 

Health insurance and costs are related to my health care. Mark is still eligible for free health care in the state of Massachusetts as of today. If a non-emergency were to happen outside of that state, it will be expensive! For check-ups, we return to the East Coast. I still pay a small quarterly fee in Belgium for health care (required to keep my citizenship), which I mention in my year report.

August was another expensive month for us, thanks to being new camper van owners. Between fuel (long trips in California and to New Mexico for our current house sit), maintenance to and items bought for our Westy, we spent almost US$1000! At least now we know where our money goes. Once we realized the impact of this, about half-way through the month, we tightened our belts, postponed some planned Amazon purchases to September, and attempted to keep other expenses as low as possible. The result is not too bad, but I can't wait to go out and spoil ourselves one of these months! 🙂

Zesty in New Mexico

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Monthly Expenses – July 2017

August 9, 2017 / / 10 Comments

Expenses - image

Every month, I post a report of our expenses to show that it is possible to live a comfortable, exciting and relatively adventurous life without breaking the bank. The less money you spend, the less you need to make. 🙂 That being said, Mark and I seem to manage one big expense a month for some reason, whether it is car, plane, travel or computer-related. Luckily, we live totally rent-free, wherever we end up.

This report includes ALL of our expenses, in US$, for the two of us. Under groceries we incorporate all the food, produce and non-alcoholic drinks (100% orange juice, almond milk for Mark and organic 2% milk for me) predominantly bought in supermarkets. Toiletries belong in that category as well. Dining out means eating at a restaurant/event or purchasing take-out food. The health category covers non-prescription medicines and Mark's vitamins and supplements; medical contains prescription drugs and doctor's visits. Utilities are always Skype-related, since that is how we make phone calls. 

Health insurance and costs are related to my health care. Mark is still eligible for free health care in the state of Massachusetts as of today. If a non-emergency were to happen outside of that state, it will be expensive! Every six months, we have to fly or drive to the East Coast for cancer check-ups. I still pay a small quarterly fee in Belgium for health care (required to keep my citizenship), which I mention in my year report.

July was expensive (over $2000!), because of a big garage bill and long-distance travel from Arkansas to California. We had to buy a lot of diesel, but camped for free every night of that six-day journey. Owning a 12-year-old camper van incurs higher monthly expenses than a Toyota Prius, which we were fully aware of. This month's total hurts, but now Zesty is up to snuff and all the other maintenance, fixes and improvements are done ourselves, over time.

Swapping our Prius for an Airstream Westfalia camper van

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IWSG Writing Update August 2017 – Life Distracts

August 2, 2017 / / 38 Comments

Every first Wednesday of the month, the IWSG (Insecure Writer’s Support Group) encourages writers to share their fears, thoughts, progress, struggles, excitement, encouragement or anything really about their writing. A different question is posed each month, as a writing prompt for IWSG members. Answering it is optional. For August, that question is “What are your pet peeves when reading/writing/editing?”

This amazing, supportive group of writers was founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh. Today, the inspiring and accomplished co-hosts are Christine Rains, Dolarah @ Book Lover, Ellen @ The Cynical Sailor, Yvonne Ventresca, and LG Keltner. Feel free to swing by their sites and see what they are up to. Don’t be shy.

Scheduled posts or repeat events/meetings/projects, whether they are weekly or monthly, are a sure way to be reminded about how fast time flies. That always happens to me when the first Wednesday of the month rolls around. Again! I am happy to reflect on my (non-)writing in July, but I am sad to see another month disappear.

My pet peeve when writing/editing is using the same words too often. Whenever possible, I find synonyms for verbs and nouns already utilized. Not sure what to do about “I”, “and”, and “to”. ? When it comes to reading, I have a big pet peeve called typos or spelling mistakes. Especially in best sellers. Continue reading

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