Anchorline Story:

[magicalbill]

Over the past 8 or 9 years, it has been my pleasure to be an occasional contributing writer for Anchorline and Docklines, the publications Grady-White sends out to their customers several times a year. Some of the stories I've penned cover events we've done with the Tarpon Coast Grady Club in SW Fla; others depict personal boat trips my Better Half and I have made.

My latest contribution will appear in the upcoming Fall Edition of Anchorline, due to hit your mailboxes sometime next week, I think.

I'm proud to say it's one of the feature stories, and it chronicles our move back to the Midwest from Fla, (we had our reasons) and re-locating our Marlin to Lake Michigan. (Some of you may recall my account of towing the Beast up to Michigan back in 2019. This time for our permanent move in 2021, I had it shipped up since, as Dennis said, it was "A One-And -Done Deal."

Grady did a fabulous job of laying it out, and it has some good pics of my family, our Marlin, and my son's (my old) 232 Gulfstream. They were kind enough to do a nice intro piece on Yours Truly and mention my band, The Flying Toasters. I continue to be flattered and honored when I get to do an article for them.

I know them pretty well from years of communication before and after these stories go to print. I have hung out with them at events and visited the Factory when our Marlin was being built. They are great people and really do care about their customers and their product.

Just thought I'd mention this; If y'all are so inclined to read it, thanks!

 

[Ky Grady]

Look forward to reading it MB!!!

 

[magicalbill]

Thanks KY!

 

[nuclear]

Did not know about this newsletter, just signed up.

 

[Sdfish]

very cool, cant wait to see it!

 

[magicalbill]

Hey Sdfish; Thanks-it's fun to do 'em. The challenge (for me, anyway,) is to say a lot with few words. I have formatting constraints that I have to adhere to, so I write the piece, go over it several times, thinking, "Ok, what can I leave out to shorten it?"

This article wasn't as much of a problem since it's a feature story, so I had some leeway.

 

[Doc Stressor]

I did a lot of editing in my former career. Here is the advice I used to give:

1. Do an outline including each point you want to make.
2. Have a drink in order to release writer's block or other inhibitions.
3. Write with abandon without considering the length restrictions.
4. Wait a day.
5. Read your work and edit by first removing any unnecessary paragraphs.
6. Remove unnecessary sentences.
7. Remove unnecessary words.
8. Wait another day.
9. Read the article over and edit for style and readability. Only then tighten it as necessary to meet page/word limitations.
10. Send it out and have another drink to celebrate.

And remember, somebody else is going to do a final edit anyway.

 

[nuclear]

Hey Sdfish; Thanks-it's fun to do 'em. The challenge (for me, anyway,) is to say a lot with few words. I have formatting constraints that I have to adhere to, so I write the piece, go over it several times, thinking, "Ok, what can I leave out to shorten it?"

This article wasn't as much of a problem since it's a feature story, so I had some leeway.

Funny because I always had the opposite problem through all my years of schooling. How do I add in what I find unnecessary in order to reach a certain page/word minimum. As someone who is naturally very concise and efficient, I found it very difficult.

 

[magicalbill]

Doc:

This is great! I will use these steps when (hopefully) I get to write another.

One of my hang ups is I think I write something essential to the storyline, and then I'm over limit, but I don't want to remove that particular section. So...what other section do I remove to compensate? I go down that road until I finally just pull a paragraph out and be done with it. For this particular piece, after submitting it to Grady, they wanted me to add two paragraphs back in that I had omitted. Go figure....

I do revisit it several times over a couple week period. I guess I should add in the "drink" option....

How are you feeling by the way?

Nuc:

I so wish I was like you. I would love to naturally be able to reel off a storyline and say a lot with a little.

That's the challenge in songwriting and playing as well. Less Is More. My greatest example of a song with a perfect, complete storyline in 3 concise verses is "Goodbye Earl." (Dixie Chicks tune, late 90's maybe??) It really is perfect; no wasted words.

Anyway, thanks for chiming in.

 

[magicalbill]

The latest Anchorline is hitting mailboxes now. For Those interested in reading it, my Piece is the MIdwest Owner Returning To His Roots, or something to that effect. Please share your thoughts, if so moved to do so. Grady did a nice job putting it all together.

As mentioned, I have done several articles for Grady-White over the years. My personal fav was a "Docklines" piece I did in the Jan 2020 edition, I think. It was a feature story and chronicled my Grady Boats I've owned over the years.

I am grateful and humbled that I get continue to write for Grady from time-to-time. They graciously gave Yours Truly a nice intro write-up as well. They are fabulous people and really do care about their customers.

I guess this post is really a "Bump," in the guise of repeating what I said in my opening remarks.

 

[Meanwhile]

I just grabbed a copy. Thanks for mentioning it.

Grady-White | Anchorline Newsletter

Anchorline is the print newsletter for and by Grady-White owners. Read about the adventures of Grady families and Owners’ Clubs, plus dealer events, and keep informed about The Grady Life.

www.gradywhite.com

 

[PointedRose]

Nice work Bill, enjoyed the read

 

[Legend]

Great article !

 

[magicalbill]

No Bail/Pointed Rose/Legend:

Thanks! Appreciate you taking the time to read it. As mentioned, I thought Grady did a nice job of putting it together.

It's neat to have the Marlin and my son's (my old) 232 Gulfstream on Lake Michigan. Short season? Sure, but being near family and not having a 3-hr washdown & flush after saltwater trips is huge.