Documentary Filmmaker @TheobaldSprague Opens Up About Adventure & Writing #Memoir #TBR

How do you work through self-doubts and fear?

QUIET TIME. I'VE ALWAYS FELT, EVEN AS A KID, THAT FOR THE MOST PART WE HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS THAT WE NEED BUT WE JUST DON'T KNOW IT OR HAVE NEVER HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO PUT THEM INTO WORDS. I DISCOVERED 'QUIET TIME' (NOT PUNITIVE QUIET TIME!) WHEN I WAS ABOUT TEN FOR THAT IS WHEN I TRY TO LISTEN TO WHAT IS GOING ON DEEP INSIDE OF ME, AWAY FROM THE NAGGING NEGATIVE VOICES AND SELF DOUBT. THE ANSWER MIGHT BE AS SIMPLE AS FINDING A SMILE WITHIN, BUT THAT SMILE HAS GOTTEN ME THROUGH THICK AND THIN FOR THAT SMILE IS ME APPROVING OF ME!!

What scares you the most?

FAILURE TO REACH MY POTENTIAL REGARDLESS THE ARENA. WHETHER IT'S BEING WITH MY KIDS, LEARNING SOMETHING NEW OR FACING A DAUNTING TASK. MANY TIMES IN FACE OF FEAR I MIGHT BACK AWAY AS I'M AFRAID OF A NEGATIVE OUTCOME, BUT IF I SUMMON UP MY INNER STRENGTH, TRY NOT TO LISTEN TO THE FALSE FEARS AND GIVE THE SITUATION ALL THAT I HAVE, I STAND MY BEST CHANCE AT REACHING MY POTENTIAL. IT'S ONLY IN HINDSIGHT THAT I CAN SEE I DIDN'T REGARD MY POTENTIAL AND THAT'S USUALLY WHEN I'M THE HARDEST ON MYSELF.

What makes you happiest?

A HAPPY OUTCOME, A BABIES' LAUGHTER, BEING AT PEACE WITH MYSELF AND NATURE AT HER FULLEST AND MOST BEAUTIFUL.

What’s your greatest character strength?

THAT'S A HARD ONE… PERHAPS MY BUILT IN BLINDERS TO OBSTACLES AND THE WILLINGNESS TO TRY AND PERSEVERE REGARDLESS THE ODDS. OPTIMISM.

What’s your weakest character trait?

I CAN BE VERY, VERY HARD ON MYSELF.

Why do you write?

I HAVE NO IDEA! PERHAPS IT'S TO GIVE VOICE TO ALL THOSE SCENARIOS AND IDEAS INSIDE OF ME. WRITING ALSO TAKES ME TO A PLACE NOTHING ELSE CAN. I LOVE THE FEELING OF SITTING DOWN TO WRITE FRO WHAT I THOUGHT WAS AN HOUR WHEN IT WAS ACTUALLY FOUR!

( TO WATCH THE OFFICIAL HD TEASER FOR "The Other Side of The Ice" [book and documentary] PLEASE GO TO: VIMEO.COM/45526226) 

A sailor and his family's harrowing and inspiring story of their attempt to sail the treacherous Northwest Passage.

Sprague Theobald, an award-winning documentary filmmaker and expert sailor with over 40,000 offshore miles under his belt, always considered the Northwest Passage--the sea route connecting the Atlantic to the Pacific--the ultimate uncharted territory. Since Roald Amundsen completed the first successful crossing of the fabled Northwest Passage in 1906, only twenty-four pleasure craft have followed in his wake. Many more people have gone into space than have traversed the Passage, and a staggering number have died trying. From his home port of Newport, Rhode Island, through the Passage and around Alaska to Seattle, it would be an 8,500-mile trek filled with constant danger from ice, polar bears, and severe weather.

What Theobald couldn't have known was just how life-changing his journey through the Passage would be. Reuniting his children and stepchildren after a bad divorce more than fifteen years earlier, the family embarks with unanswered questions, untold hurts, and unspoken mistrusts hanging over their heads. Unrelenting cold, hungry polar bears, and a haunting landscape littered with sobering artifacts from the tragic Franklin Expedition of 1845, as well as personality clashes that threaten to tear the crew apart, make The Other Side of the Ice a harrowing story of survival, adventure, and, ultimately, redemption.

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Genre – Memoir, adventure, family, climate

Rating – PG

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Website www.spraguetheobald.com

Danny Wynn Shares His Memories About Majorca #Spain #AmWriting #LitFic

My novella “Man from the Sky” takes place entirely on the Spanish island of Majorca.  I first became aware of Majorca in 1987 when I was living in London.  A the time, in the U.K., Majorca was perceived as a vacation spot predominantly for a tacky, low-brow crowd, and there was a famous Heineken TV advertisement in which people recited, in a very low-class English accent, the line, “The water in Majorca doesn’t taste what it ought to” (I think from “My Fair Lady”).  Thus, I had never considered it as a vacation destination for myself.

However, I acquired a Dutch girlfriend, whose mother had renovated an old farmhouse on the island to use as a second home, and my girlfriend essentially said to me, “Look before you laugh.”  She explained to me that it is a large island, and yes, there are some tacky enclaves, but they’re very contained, and the rest of the island is very beautiful and has a lot to offer.  We went to a spot on the mountainous western coast, and I immediately fell in love with the place.  (It was a shame she was so unpleasant on the trip because she had turned me on to one of my favorite places in the world, and that should been a big plus for our relationship.)  There is a certain kind of beauty that is specific to the Mediterranean – a dry green, reddish-tan, and textured rustic beauty – and I saw that Majorca was the finest example of it I had ever seen.  I couldn’t stop looking at the place.  Since then, I’ve been back about two dozen times, the longest stay being six weeks, and have explored much more of the island.  Also, now a close friend of mine lives there with his family, further increasing the enjoyment I get from being there, and making it more fun to go solo.

The main city is Palma – about 250,000 residents, I think – and when I first went to the island, it was quite seedy and run-down.  I tended to stay away from it.  But over the years, as the Majorcan economy has done very well, the city has been cleaned up and re-vitalized.  Today, it is a vibrant, attractive city, with a fair amount of culture and very mild winters (on some days, you can dine outside during the winter).  As I say in my novella, the sun and the sea don’t hurt.

Also, over the years, the cuisine has gone from simple country fare to some of the finest in the world.  There are exceptional restaurants everywhere, not to mention about 100 gorgeous, luxury hotels scattered over the island, mostly in beautiful converted old structures like monasteries and large manor houses.

The best beaches are on the southern and eastern coasts, and the greatest visual beauty is found on the western coast where a 100-mile long mountain range descends to the sea, with villages halfway up the mountains scattered along the way.  The car-rides along that coast are one of those things that belong on a list of things to do before you die.

It not only proved to be the perfect setting for my novella, but it also partly inspired the novella, which is consistent with the fact there is a mountain there said to inspire creativity in people. The island became virtually a character in the story.

I’m headed there again at least once this year, and maybe a second time to promote my book there.  I can’t wait.

How far would you go to add excitement to a life you felt was boring and meaningless?

For seventy-three-year-old Jaime, the answer takes him by surprise. Accustomed to a lonely life high up in the mountains on the western coast of Mallorca, his dull routine is suddenly shattered when a man parachutes from a plane and lands nearby. The plane crashes; the man lives.

It’s a drug smuggling operation gone bad. But Stefan, the man from the sky, has escaped with eight kilos of cocaine in a gym bag. Jaime brings Stefan home and is soon entangled in Stefan’s attempts to sell the cocaine and start a new life.

As they dodge Parisian drug dealers and corrupt Mallorcan police, Jaime’s search for excitement and Stefan’s resolve to find stability lead them both down dangerous paths.

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Genre – Literary Fiction, Adventure

Rating – PG-13

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Website http://www.dannywynn.net/

Will Shakespeare & the Ships of Solomon by @GreyAuthor #GoodReads #Action #Adventure

Cherry pipe tobacco filled his mouth, and he fought the urge to inhale. Only savor the flavor and let it out, he mused. Reclined on a very comfortable seat, Adams allowed himself a scotch as they entered the city. New York’s skyline loomed above a thick morning fog. The streets were already cluttered with cars and workers. The skyline was close; they would soon be in Manhattan, minutes from Grand Central Station. Sipping the scotch brought him comfort, briefly anyway. More than he’d received in quite some time.

Glancing over at the men, he offered a grin.

“Almost there, gentlemen.”

They were not amused.

“The Barrister put me in charge. These are his orders. What else do you want from me?”

One man looked away, but another maintained his cold stare.

“If this is true, then you have nothing to be nervous about.”

“Why wouldn’t it be true?” Adams smiled, but inside his nerves jumped.

He knew full well that he’d stolen the men from the Barrister, and he’d be hunted down for this, but he needed them, and he had better protection with them around—more effective than even the Vatican. The man he answered to could destroy these men with a single thought. They were only tools to reach the most valuable treasure in the history of man. With that power in his hands, even the Jesuits would shine his shoes at his request.

His nerves softened as he thought about his future. They wouldn’t be soft for long. One of the men jumped to his feet to look out the window. Adams thought his name was Christopher or one of the other saints. Hell, they were all named after saints except for the Barrister, who kept his secular nickname for intimidation.

“God help us,” he said.

Although his nerves were heightened, Adams didn’t want to know what Christopher had seen. Nevertheless, he casually leaned forward and took a look out the window. All composure suddenly crashed, and Adams dropped his pipe as he lurched to his feet. The last car of the train was sitting stationary on the tracks, far behind the moving train.

Without a word, he pulled out his pistol and bolted for the door. A cleverer member of his party immediately jumped up and pulled the emergency brake on the train. Horrific screeching bounded through the air as the occupants of the car tumbled onto each other. The surrounding city stopped to look. Many cars pulled over, passengers stepping out to see what the emergency was, and passersby ran up to the rail.

After he regained balance, Adams nearly lost it again. The train was curved enough on the track to allow them a very clear view of the last car. The back of the train had just exploded from the impact of a sedan parked inside. The sedan crashed onto the rail and squealed off into the city.

“DAMN IT!” Adams barked and squeezed his way off the passenger car in search of his own vehicle.

It was the last time he’d underestimate Will Shakespeare.

In the fall of 1947, Will Shakespeare saw the world collapse around him. Shakespeare, a secret soldier for the Knights Templar, barely escapes the slaughter of his entire knighthood at the hands of a rogue militant arm of the Vatican in a small Montreal church. With orders to escort Templar business associate Dorothy Wilkinson back to her home in Bermuda, Will must locate and rescue the most important secret treasure in human history before it is devoured by a hurricane in the watery caves beneath her father’s property. The spiraling quest sends Will and Dorothy into uncovering dark secrets that make up the origins of the knighthood as they confront the traps and puzzles that masterfully protect the world’s most coveted treasure.

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Genre – Action, Adventure

Rating – PG

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