After my sail north last summer, I returned home with a renewed desire to sail my own little Caliber 33, Talespinner. There is just something so rewarding about being in charge, making my own decisions, charting my own course. I am a loner at heart and my plans now are to take off the second week of May and head for my first singlehanded cruise to the Bahamas.

I know that there are some extraordinary singlehanded women sailors these days from Ellen MacArthur to Donna Lange. I'm not planning to face Cape Horn or even cross an ocean at the moment. I just want to test myself in the Gulf Stream and perhaps on an overnight passage. I want to be afraid and learn to handle it. I want to make mistakes and learn from them.

I started work on the boat over my winter break from my teaching job. I hauled the boat out and did a bottom job, repairing some blisters, replacing the cutlass bearing, and checking all the seacocks and through-hulls. It's tough finding the time to do this - and boats always require more time than you figure.

And at the same time, I have this book to finish. My new novel, FAULTY INTELLIGENCE, is not even half way done and I hope to finish it by July 1st. That is my most important goal.

So, now I must plan my time, make my lists. I will finish this book I am writing and finish this boat I am outfitting. And here in these pages, I hope to log some of the highs and lows involved in that whole process.

Fair winds!