logo  PAIR O' HERMITS - Nancy L. Mills and David M. Perkins

Nancy's Writing

Writing is a form of therapy;
sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose or paint
can manage to escape the madness, melancholia, the panic fear
which is inherent in a human situation.

Graham Greene

And who can't use some good therapy? Though I never had ambitions to be a writer, my past life in academia required considerable writing: master's thesis, doctoral dissertation, professional publications. Since then, I have tried my hand at writing for pleasure. I think writing is hard work, but it is also very creative and satisfying. Given my attention span, I only write relatively short pieces, which generally fall under the following categories.
Living Aboard magazine and book
                                    My Writing Interests:
Boating Experiences:    Since retiring, I have enjoyed writing about our boating experiences and have had some success in having my articles published in boating magazines. My first efforts were directed toward writing very short pieces about ways to improve one's boat. Starting in 1996, I have published 25 Handyman Hints and Quick Tips in the "Boatkeeper" column in Motor Boating & Sailing magazine and seven contributions to the "Hands-On Boater" column in Sea Magazine. I branched out into writing full-length articles for Coastal Cruising (two articles), PassageMaker (two articles), and Boating for Women (two articles -- there seems to be a trend here) and Living Aboard. I've published 15 feature articles, six "What Works" columns (plus four individual pieces) and seven "Cooking Aboard" columns (which is pretty funny since I don't cook!) in Living Aboard. I was also thrilled to have one of my articles "It's Better on the Boat" selected for inclusion in the book Escape from Someday Isle, a collection of the best columns from Living Aboard magazine over the past 10 years.

Wonderful West Virginia magazineLiving in West Virginia:    There is a wealth of material to write about based on our experiences of living in West Virginia. I've written up a few short pieces although I don't know what I'm going to do with them. I was fortunate enough to have one article published in Wonderful West Virginia magazine, September 2005 issue. The article is about the American Heritage Music Hall, Inc., a local establishment that provides great "mountain" music (primarily country, bluegrass and some gospel) once a week in a friendly and pleasant environment. Meeting the proprietors, Charlie Massie and Jeannie Crane, was the best part of writing the piece. And Dave and I occasionally drop in on Tuesday nights to enjoy the music.

Humorous Essays:    For years, I've played around with writing humorous essays, which might best be described as rants about modern life. I submitted one of these, "Beware the Food Police!", to the West Virginia Writers Competition, where it earned an Honorable Mention in 2002.

Fiction:    Since moving to WV, I've started writing short stories which I enjoy immensely, although some of them seem to release a dark side of me that
I didn't know existed. I find myself working on stories erratically and in spurts. I've submitted three to the West Virginia Writers Competitions and one of them, a short short story entitled "Betsy Jo", won an Honorable Mention in 2002.

Journal:    Thanks to Dave's influence, I started keeping a journal during our boating days. I've continued to do so and try to write a page or so every other evening.  As most journal writers know, when there is the most to record, there is the least time to do so and when we're not so busy with so many things happening, there's plenty of time to write but nothing to say. And then there's the problem of remembering what we did just yesterday!
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