I ease back into writing for hire.

One of the things I’ve been working on part-time for past few years is getting back into writing articles for publication.

Waterway Guide

Although I thought I had a working relationship with Waterway Guide, that fizzled out pretty quickly. The publisher was initially excited about working with me and made some suggestions about how much money I might earn writing for them. I did my part to help build content on their site with a never-ending stream of marina and anchorage reviews. (I still get the occasional compliment for my reviews.)

But after months on the Loop, I just got one article assignment — and I never got paid for it. I was very interested in helping to update the Skipper Bob books — especially the one for the Erie Canal — but was told other people were doing it. No other work was forthcoming. So I stopped writing reviews. I’m a professional writer, after all, and I’m not going to go out of my way to build content for a for-profit publication without getting compensation for my work.

Dockwa

I started writing for Dockwa last spring. Dockwa is a company that helps boaters arrange for marina reservations through the use of its easy-to-use app. Some marinas only use Dockwa so it’s a good app to have.

I used it to place a reservation for 10 days in Oriental NC back in 2023 when I had to take a class for my Captain’s license. The reservation was supposed to be refundable, but when I cancelled a month in advance, the marina refused to issue a full refund. Dockwa took care of it for me and I got all of my money back. They also accept payment via Apple Pay, so I’m able to get more cash back with every reservation than if I’d paid with a credit card. So I’m pretty sold on Dockwa.

Dockwa has a blog and some email newsletters of interest to boaters. I was first approached by them because they wanted to link to one of the posts in My Great Loop Adventure blog. Sure, I said. And when the newsletter came out, I got more than 1,000 hits in two days. They’ve since linked to other content there and have really helped me get exposure for the blog.

Then, in September, they asked if I’d write quarterly exclusive content for them to use in their blog. I’d get a byline and link to my blog. That seemed pretty good to me because I’d started writing a book about my Great Loop trip and the blog was going to be my primary promotional tool. The more eyes on it, the better off I’d be. Since then, I’ve written three quarterly articles for them (one of which went long and appeared in two parts) and have just sent in my fourth:

• “6 Things Every First Mate Should Know,” Dockwa Blog, October 1, 2024.
• “Captain Maria Langer’s Guide to Pets on Board,” Dockwa Blog, January 1, 2025. (I did not title this one.)
• “Single Handing a Cruising Boat | Part 1” Dockwa Blog, April 2, 2025.
• “Single Handing a Cruising Boat | Part 2” Dockwa Blog, May 3, 2025.

Although I’m not getting paid cash money for any of these, I did get a perk: I’m now a member of Dockwa +, a subscription service that supposedly gets me discounts and access to special offers at marinas. I’ll find out more about it the next time I’m on my boat.

Passagemaker

The biggest news is recent. I got into an email discussion with the editor of Passagemaker magazine, which I consider the premiere private boat cruising magazine. It’s a beautiful publication that comes out every two months and features cruising articles and boat reviews, along with informative how-to articles of interest to boat owners. I read it every month via the Libby app, courtesy of my library.

My email discussion with Jeff was about folks who finish the Great Loop but never get on a list of people who’ve finished because they don’t belong to the for-profit organization that keeps the list. Passagemaker published the list and (unsurprisingly) I was not on it, despite having “crossed my wake” in August 2024. That turned to a discussion of solo cruising on the Loop. I was asked if I wanted to write an article about the challenges I faced as a solo Looper and I said yes. I asked about compensation and was offered a very reasonable (if not generous these days) amount of money.

(Looking back at my list of published articles, I realize that the last time I was actually paid for writing an article was back in 2018, when I wrote for Vertical magazine. That was before I cut ties with them after one of their editors went into a jealous rage when she discovered that I’d been asked to co-pilot a Chinook on a fire contract. That’s a long story not worth going into here. Of course, I didn’t write anything for publication between 2018 and 2023, which is when I wrote that unpaid piece for Waterway Guide.)

I wrote the piece and Jeff was pleased. I assume it’ll come out in either the next issue or the one after that. I can’t wait to see it.

Jeff also invited me to be a guest on the Trawler Talk podcast. Passagemaker publishes the podcast and new episodes come out every month or so. We had a great conversation the other day, touching not only on my boating history, but some of my other careers including writing and flying helicopters. I expect the episode to come out in August unless he’s got one queued up before that.

It should go without saying that I’m pretty excited about working with the Passagemaker folks. I’m hoping it leads to more work in the future.

If I know it, I’ll write about it

Looking at my list of published articles, which appear in reverse chronological order, it’s interesting to see how the topics I wrote about changed over the years.

My very first published article, way back in 1987, was about auditing construction project budgets. At the time, I was working as an auditor for K. Hovnanian, a position I hated within a week of sitting down at my desk. (It took me just four months to escape to another job; I don’t even mention the time I spent there in any resume or work history.)

After that, I wrote about computers for auditing and then computers in general. Then computer applications and software reviews. Motorcycling was in there, too. How-to pieces. Aviation and flying helicopters. There’s lots of overlap — most of what I wrote in articles was computer related for most of my writing career. It was nice to move into aviation writing and now it’s great to be writing about boating topics.

I guess it all comes down to this: I’ll write about anything I know something about.

I like to write and I do need to apologize for neglecting this blog as I have for much of this year. I hope to do more of it soon — especially if I can write for quality publications and get a check when I’m done.