Writing Sci-Fi At Sea – A World Building Adventure
In this episode, we set sail on a voyage into the heart of storytelling and sea-bound living with Liz Shipton, an indie author who has carved out a life that's as unconventional as it is inspiring. Living with her boyfriend Trevor, and their dog Aloy on their 43’ sailboat, Liz gives us a glimpse into the realities of her day-to-day life at sea and how it feeds into her creative work.
We explore her book series about dystopian adventures set in a future where most of the world is submerged in saltwater. You'll hear about her encounters with rough seas and her observations on climate change and environmental issues. Liz's ability to tackle challenging topics like mental health and addiction, influenced by her personal struggles, brings forth a unique authenticity that makes her writing truly stand out.
Offering insights and advice about off-grid travel, Liz's story is a compelling look at the dedication it takes to follow one's passions. Tune in for an enlightening discussion that may just spark your own ideas about living life on your own terms.
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Podcast Transcript
Pat: 0:08
Fill To Capacity, where heart, grit and irreverent humor collide. A podcast for people to o stubborn to quit and too creative not to make a difference. Hi, I'm Pat Benincasa and welcome to today's episode: Writing Sci-Fi At Sea: A World-Building Adventure. My guest is Liz Shipton. Have you ever thought about getting away from it all? Quit your job, do something you always wanted to do? Go somewhere and live off-grid, or buy a sailboat, sail around the world and write books? Well, today's guest has a lot to tell us. Liz Shipton is a freelance writer, indie author and full-time off-grid live-aboard sailor on a 43-foot sailboat called the Loki. She is currently sailing around the world with her boyfriend Trevor Hope and dog Aloy. She turns her real-life adventures into a series of sci-fi fantasy books. Her books also explore themes of mental health, addiction, technology, climate change and the looming collapse of society. But, as Liz says, "but like in a fun way. When she's not penning novels about the impending apocalypse, she works as a freelance content writer, specializing in articles about code, music theory and off-grid living. Welcome Liz, It's so nice to have you here.
Liz: 2:16
Hi, I'm super excited to be here. That was quite the introduction. That was awesome.
Pat: 2:21
Well, I gotta ask before we begin where are you right now?
Liz: 2:26
I am currently in Puerto Rico. We just got here, like five days ago maybe. Yeah, we're on the south-eastern end of the island, in a little town called Boqueron and, yeah, we're enjoying it, we're loving it, it's beautiful.
Pat: 2:42
Great. So before I go any further now, in Norse mythology, Loki is a mischievous trickster god with the ability to shape, shift. Hence why did you name your boat the Loki?
Liz: 3:00
So actually we didn't name it. The guy that we bought it from had named it before us and we had. I think we had always thought we would want to like rename a boat if we got it and give it our own name. But we just really liked Loki. It kind of fit our whole vibe so we just kept it. We liked it, we thought it was great. Okay, I'm glad you cleared that up.
Pat: 3:23
Can you share the moment you decided to transition to a life at sea and what went into this decision, and how long have you been at sea?
Liz: 3:34
Great questions, I do, actually. I remember the moment, very vividly. It was a long time ago. We planned this trip for a really long time before we actually set out and started doing it, and at the time we were living in San Diego. My boyfriend, Trev, had been working as a sailing instructor and he went to work overseas in Croatia for a summer skippering yachts over there, and during that time he really just kind of fell in love with being in Croatia first of all because it's amazing, and being on the boat and all that. And we were having phone conversations where we were talking about having to move back to Santa Cruz, which is a very expensive part of California, and so our conversations were sort of circling around this issue of like, well, how are we going to afford to live in Santa Cruz? How are we going to afford to rent a place in Santa Cruz? And also, Trev's really enjoying this sailing thing, is there a way that we could I don't know live on a boat in Santa Cruz? So that was kind of where it started and so that was just. We were just going to try and find a boat, put it in a dock and live on it to save money. And then once we kind of had this idea, we were like, well, we're going to have this boat, we might as well sail it somewhere. And then the idea just kind of grew and snowballed from there. It took probably six years, I think, of planning. From that initial decision that we wanted to do it, we both just sort of buckled down, started working, saving as much money as we could, finally bought the boat in 20 19 or 18. And then it was still another two years after that before we left, just to sort of preparing and still saving money and getting things ready and all that kind of stuff. So yeah, it was a long process and a lot of thought and preparation definitely went into it. It wasn't like one day we were just like, oh look, there's a boat, let's jump on it and go. It was a pretty well thought out process, for sure.
Pat: 5:26
Well, there is a peace of mind when you do think things out carefully and you examine all the possibilities and then you make that leap of faith. So it sounds like you were pretty rigorous in your approach to this. So for those of us who are not sea bound, can you tell us what does a typical day on the Loki look like?
Liz: 5:49
It depends on if you're me or if you're Trev. So right now we've kind of come to this arrangement where we divide the work. I do all the things that keep us floating financially and he does all the things that keep us floating, like literally floating. So I will usually wake up and I am usually getting on the computer. I'm writing. I'm either writing articles for clients or I'm working on my own stuff, and that means maybe I'm writing a story or I'm writing a chapter, or a lot of the time I'm doing a lot of promotional stuff or I'm on social media. I'm on social media a lot.
Pat: 6:26
I know I follow you, by the way. So yeah, I see you.
Liz: 6:30
Yeah, I just actually just started to really pick up some traction there and things have started working. So that's nice. I don't mind being on social media, it just takes up quite a large part of my day. And then Trev, meanwhile, is usually working on something that's like always broken. And like we just got to Puerto Rico and the passage was quite rough to get here. Big waves, quite a lot of wind and a few things broke, like big things broke on the boat. So for example, right now Trev is working on fixing those things, or he's sourcing parts to get parts delivered so that we can fix things, or he's working on a project, or he's fixing a leak or all kinds of stuff like that. And then we take our dog. We have our dog, obviously, so she needs to go ashore a few times a day to run and go to the beach. So we go once in the morning and then we kind of take lunch together and we take her to the beach, and then we'll take her once before dinner.
Pat: 7:22
You kind of answered a question I was going to have next. Do you stay near the coastline or do you go way the hell out into the sea? I mean, do you change it up?
Liz: 7:34
It really depends on where you're going and what part of the world you're in, but for the most part we're close to shore and we drop anchor. We really prefer to be in places where you don't have to go way out and spend multiple days at sea. It's just a lot more pleasant to kind of do a day sail and drop the anchor and stay in that spot for a bit. But if you're making a big hop, so like, for example, we just came to Puerto Rico and we came from Columbia, so we had to sail and I think the longest leg we did it in, like you know, three or four hops of a few days at a time, and I think the longest leg we did was like 72 hours crossing the Caribbean from Kurosawa. We came from Curaçao to Puerto Rico across the Caribbean. So yeah, it really it really depends. But then you know, we were in Cartagena before this in Columbia, and we were there for like six months and we were just anchored in front of the city, living in Cartagena. So it really varies and it really depends and that's, I mean, that's kind of the beauty of it, right? Yeah, freedom to go wherever and whenever.
Pat: 8:35
Well, what does living off- grid mean? And how do you do it aboard a sailboat, and I'm really curious, like, how do you connect with the world? You guys have radio transmission, so what does off- grid mean?
Liz: 8:51
So off- grid basically, I mean you, when you're on a sailboat, you kind of have to be off grid, because I mean there is no grid, you're on the water. So for us it means all of our energy comes from solar. We have solar panels on the back that charge batteries. Trev actually just did a huge project for placing our batteries with lithium ion batteries, which is super exciting for any battery nerds out there. So all of our solar power comes and charges our batteries. We get water by hand. S ometimes, depending on where you are, that might mean filling up a lot of big jugs of water, going ashore and then transporting them back in a dinghy, filling up our tanks from these jugs and maybe making a few trips. We don't have to do that very often unless you're in like a really remote part of the world. Usually we can fill up our water tanks, like at a dock or at a marina, from a hose. It also means as far as connecting with the world, we recently, within the last year, we got Starlink, which is satellite internet, which has been a real help. That's been a huge game changer. I don't think I could be doing a lot of the work that I'm doing right now without Starlink. It makes things so much easier.
Pat: 9:57
Well, Starlink is in a lot of automobiles as well. I mean, that's worldwide, so it's pretty trustworthy. So you are in connection with the world when you want to be and it sounds like you're pretty self-sufficient with solar and water. So you really have equipped yourself with the freedom for energy.
Liz: 10:24
Yeah, that's the idea. And then you know, obviously we try. We are also dependent on, like diesel. The boat has a motor. Obviously we try to sail as much as we can. Sometimes the weather doesn't always work out that way, so you have to motor. So you know we have to fill up our diesel tanks every now and then and then we just have to go grocery shopping. Obviously like everyone does, and sometimes we'll do like if we know we're gonna be going out to like a remote island and we want to spend two weeks sort of way out there, really off grid. We'll have to do a big shop by a lot of things stock up the boat, make sure we have food, for you know quite a while.
Pat: 10:59
Now, how long have you been sailing like this?
Liz: 11:02
Just over two years, so we left Santa Cruz, California, in September of 2021.
Pat: 11:08
Well, I'm curious, now you've had two years under your belt, how has living at sea influenced your emotional or mental sense of well-being?
Liz: 12:21
Oh man, great question. I mean, as with anything in life, I think it's a balance. There's always is like a give and a take. There's always some things that are gonna be better and some things that are gonna be worse. I think a lot of people see this lifestyle and they kind of think, oh amazing, you're on vacation all the time! Or oh, it must be so fantastic every day! Obviously there are parts of it that are fantastic, but also it kind of just becomes your regular life after a while and it's kind of weird how easily you adapt to it just being your regular life. There's definitely mental health challenges for sure. Like it can be a little isolating. Yeah, it's just me and Trev and the dog out on a boat by ourselves for quite a long time. There is a pretty large worldwide community of people who live on their boats and do this full-time. So we do kind of run into the same people in different parts of the world. Like we've got a couple who's here on a boat in Puerto Rico right now, actually, who we met first in La Paz in Mexico and then we ran into them again in Panama and then we've just run into them again here, so that's nice. There's also the challenge of the fact that you know we live in a boat that's 43 feet long and we've been together 15 years and we kind of drive each other crazy.
Pat: 13:36
Okay, I was gonna go there, but you brought it up. How the hell do you guys coexist with Aloy, Trev and you on this tiny little boat? I mean, how do you have time away from each other on this boat, Do you?
Liz: 13:55
Yeah, it is for sure, challenging. And again it's that is sort of dependent on where you are in the world, like some places I can go ashore and I can go to an internet cafe to work for the day, and that kind of gives us a break. Some places, like where we are right now, that's not really possible. So we are kind of on the boat together all day. We've cohabited in small spaces for pretty much our entire relationship. We've always lived in a studio apartment or maybe a one-bedroom apartment, so we are kind of used to sharing space and the boat does have like doors that you can shut between people. We both have headphones so like I'm on the computer, I can put my headphones in and be working. Trev can be outside with his headphones on, working, and then I don't know it. I would say we do an okay job of communicating, but we, we bicker, we fight, we struggle through. You know it's not always easy, for sure, but it's the stuff of relationships.
Pat: 14:50
Well, I'd like to shift gears. I read your first book, "Salt, which is, by the way, a real page turner, and it's your fault that I've been up late at night reading this thing. I'm just gonna tell you that, cuz I couldn't put it down so One of the things, there were many things that struck me about the book, but and you kind of talked about it in the beginning I was struck by how fast the weather can change on the ocean. One minute it's sunny and next thing, it's stormy with white caps. Now you guys live in such a way that weather directly impacts you, it's a safety issue, it's a daily issue. How do you handle rough seas and can you share a rough sea story?
Liz: 15:34
So, yeah, this is like fresh on my mind because the crossing we just did across the Caribbean from Kyrusth to Puerto Rico, was probably the roughest we've ever had, which neither of us was expecting. Like you think Caribbean, you kind of think like a tranquil, no problem on, like palm trees, white sand. It was rough, it was not fun. To be completely honest, I was seasick the entire time for a 72 straight hours. Trev threw up, I threw up. We were both honestly just kind of miserable. We're taking water over the bow the entire time, just crashing through waves, and it's loud and it's chaotic and you're just, you know stuffs going everywhere. I mean, how do you deal with it? You kind of just have to close your eyes and hold on and just do it. We do try our hardest. So, as far as like weather in general goes, you know there's apps and there's services that you can check, that kind of tell you here's where the wind is going to be going and here's how strong it's going to be, and blah, blah, blah. A lot of the time those apps are not correct or things just wrong. I honestly don't know how in 2023 we have like AI that's writing like Shakespeare, but we still can't tell if it's gonna be windy tomorrow. But you can't. Sometimes, yeah, sometimes it's just the weather forecast is just wrong. But we do do our best to check the forecast and, for the most part, if conditions are gonna be rough, you just don't go out. Sometimes it's unavoidable, but that's kind of how you keep safe. Stay safe and be responsible is by planning ahead and knowing where the weather patterns are, so like, for example, in the Caribbean is hurricane, hurricane season just ended. So that's why we were in Cartagena for six months, because we were kind of hiding out there waiting for hurricane season to end so that we could come here so we don't get caught in a hurricane.
Pat: 17:25
Well, that brings me to my next question. Being onboard sailors, you are intimately connected with the ocean ecosystem. Have you observed any signs of climate change, or how has this living on the sea Influence your perspective on environmental issues?
Liz: 17:46
Yeah, so I would say having we've spent the last, the majority of the last two years, in Central America, in a lot of countries that are significantly less wealthy than the United States, and one of the big things that we noticed is that trash and plastic are a big problem on the beaches there and in the water, just I mean everywhere, because there just isn't the infrastructure. A lot of people there are like burning their trash because there just isn't a service to come and take it away and then pick it up and dispose of it. So, yeah, that was a big thing. We've also noticed that some of the spots that we've been to, where it's purported to be like some really amazing snorkeling and you're gonna see lots and lots of fish and beautiful colors and such and such hasn't been quite, as you know, vibrant and diverse as we maybe were expecting. So for sure you definitely see it. Pat Tell us about your series of books. Liz- Sure, yes, well, so the series I'm currently working on is called the Thalassic Series. It is a dystopian I'm calling it a dystopian pirate series, where it's basically set in this sort of near-ish future, dystopian water world where climate change and multiple pandemic have made most of the world unlivable. There's sort of like eight cities left where the climate is still temperate enough that people can live and the majority of the world is covered in saltwater. So sort of the primary way that people get around is by sailing, and the main character is this sort of train wreck of a girl called Bird who's struggling with some undiagnosed mental health issues and is sort of on her way to alcoholism and just having a lot of problems and making a lot of really poor decisions. And she's got this like long suffering sailing teacher called Sargo who becomes the love and trust and they basically threw a lot of really really terrible decisions on Bird's behalf. They end up having to flee their hometown by sailboat and cross this dangerous body of water called the salt, and that's kind of book one. They meet pirates, they rescue a dog, they uncover this sort of like sinister biotech plot in the background and then that kind of continues throughout the rest of the series. There's four books in the main series right now, with another two scheduled for release in this coming year, and then there's two prequels as well to the series.
Pat: 20:15
Okay, so in your books you do touch on mental health, addiction, societal collapse. Those are pretty heavy themes. How do you approach these in your writing while keeping a sense of adventure and hope?
Liz: 20:32
Yeah, great question. So the books are very autobiographical. This character of Bird is very much based on me. It's very much like I struggled throughout my twenties and into my thirties and really only recently have found my way to sobriety in the last couple of years. So a lot of this book was sort of me working through all that for myself and my own mental health and all this stuff. So I think a lot of it is just coming from my personal experience and the way I view the world and as far as like keeping a sense of hope, I haven't actually decided yet if the full series is gonna end on a hopeful note or not. I'm sort of I'm a little bit of a pessimist in general and I kind of have this like sneaking feeling that I might just end the series on a real downer and destroy everyone's dreams. But I know that like readers might not necessarily like that, so I'm still kind of figuring that part out.
Pat: 21:26
Okay, the jury is out on that. Okay, you know, there was a real sense of authenticity to the character of Bird. I'm glad you said that because when I was reading it I thought this person has lived, whoever was writing this, this person has lived and so thank you for clearing that up. You wrote: "many authors wonder how they can make being an author support their lifestyle. I came at it from the other direction and figured out how to make my lifestyle support being an author. How did cutting ties to the land enable you to pursue a career as an indie author?
Liz: 22:14
Yeah, I mean, it's one of my favorite things about living on the boat, honestly. Basically, you know, like I said at the beginning, one of the main things that inspired us to want to pursue this was cost of living. Buying a boat is a lot cheaper than buying a house, especially somewhere like California, right? So that I mean, that was a big factor in this decision was just kind of finances and thinking like like, so we don't have a house back in California, this is it, this is our house, right? But that means that our expenses are very low after the initial cost of the boat, which was not like super cheap because we wanted something that was big and comfortable, but it was still cheaper than buying a house. And after that we don't have a car, we don't have any kids I mean, that's like kind of separate but we don't pay a mortgage, we don't pay rent. Our monthly expenses are really just like paying for the internet and whatever food we need and sometimes getting into country fees or things like that. So that allows me to support this lifestyle by writing, and when I first started working aboard the boat, I was writing a lot of like freelance articles for online tech blogs and things like that, but working part-time, basically, and being able to support our lifestyle just working part-time, and that it gave me a lot of time to work on my books. So, it's been two years I've been able to write like seven books and a few short stories, which a lot of authors don't have time to do, which in turn, allowed me to really develop my voice and learn what I write. I've gotten a lot better at it, like since "Salt. Honestly, like you, saying that Salt is great is like wow really, cause I think that book is terrible compared to what I'm writing now.
Pat: 23:57
Wait, wait, Liz, give me a chance to catch up on the other books, okay!
Liz: 24:01
Sure, the series gets better. I always want to tell people this, cause I'm like promoting "Salt heavily right now because it's the first book. It's sort of the entry point to the series, but the bummer is it's also like the worst book in the series, because I didn't know what I was doing when I wrote it. So I always want to tell people, like, just keep reading. I promise you know, book four is really really good If you just keep you, just keep going.
Pat: 24:23
Well, thank you for that caveat, but I know, as an artist working on a painting, I'm always so critical through the process. I mean, that's part of the curse and the blessing of being a creative. We're so highly critical of everything we do, but you can't control how the viewer looks at a painting and you can't control what the reader finds. So you have warned listeners, but I'm just gonna say I really enjoyed it. So thank you for the warning and I look forward to the next few books. I was looking at your website and your journey began in Santa Cruz, as you said, california. From there, you sailed down the Pacific coast of the US into Baja California, and then you spent a year in Mexico and then continued south through Central America, Guatemala, el Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama, and then in March of 2023, you went through the Panama Canal to the Caribbean. Now, of all these places, which was the most surprising or influential for you, and why?
Liz: 25:37
Oh, surprising. I would actually say that Panama really surprised me, because you don't think of Panama when you think of like, oh, I want to take a tropical South American vacation or Central American vacation. Panama is not usually the country that would like spring to mind for most people, I don't think, but it's beautiful. There are some really incredible islands on both the Pacific side and the Caribbean side. On the Caribbean side, you have the San Blas Archipelago, which is just it looks like. If you ever see the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean when Johnny Depp gets stuck on the island with the rum, that's San Blas Like. I almost certainly filmed it there, because that's just what it looks like it's incredible. And then on the Pacific side, you have Las Perlas are some really beautiful Pacific Panama islands. So I would say that that was a really surprising place. I really just love Mexico. I love Baja, California. The Pacific coast of Baja is pretty rugged and quite remote, but is really just one of the most stunning places that we've ever, that we've been on this entire trip. And then the Sea of Cortez, which is on the inland side of that peninsula, is also really beautiful. La Paz is a very cool city and we also. We got a chance to visit Mexico City and to go to San Cristóbal de las Casas, which is inland Mexico, and those were really cool trips as well. And I mean Mexico also is great because it's the cost of living is quite a bit lower than in the United States, so you get quite a bit of bang for your buck, which is great as far as we're concerned. Yeah, I often talk about how I honestly would just love to go back and live in Mexico, if we ever leave the boat or if we ever land somewhere permanently. I think Mexico is pretty high contender on the list.
Pat: 27:20
Well, again, on your website, you mentioned that incorporating global experiences into your sci-fi and fantasy books. Can you give an example of how a specific place or culture that you visited inspired your work or found their way into your work?
Liz: 27:39
Yeah, totally Well. So first of all, I mean you've got the fact that, like in Salt, where they're sailing I mean that was all just inspired by our trip down the Pacific Coast, like sailing out of Santa Cruz. So Brume in the book is pretty much based on my hometown of Santa Cruz/ San Francisco, Foggy, you got the big redwood trees. It's quite wealthy and affluential and it's a pretty temperate place which I sort of feel like climate change progresses. There are going to be these pockets right where things are sort of pretty stable and OK, and to me Santa Cruz, the northern California, sort of feels like one of those places. And then you know, as you come down the coast, the end of that book they get to alluvium, which is where they meet up with Bird's brother and things progress from there. So that was based on. There is a little town on the southernmost border of Mexico called Puerto Madero and we spent probably like about six months around this town last year and it's very small, it's coastal, it's right on the on the water and I just remember it's hot, but it's also very. We were there during the rainy season so I remember a lot sloshing around in streets that were like unpaved in my flip flops in like three or four inches of water, just kind of in the mud you know like, and that went right into the book as the city of Alluvium, which is all kind of built on this estuary and on swamp land and it's all very wet and kind of humid. So yeah, I mean there's more, there's more places to especially I'd say especially in salt, because I was writing it literally as we were sailing down that coast. A lot of play in Baja and in Mexico made their way into that book.
Pat: 29:22
You know you talk a little bit about the rough seas and living off grid on a boat. What are probably some of the biggest challenges living off grid on a boat and what kind of safety concerns do you have?
Liz: 29:39
Some of the biggest challenges probably are just like, because we don't have a car in a city where we're very dependent on, like, public transportation or sometimes Uber or taxis. So in a city or a place where that is not super available, it can be very difficult to just get errands done like an errand and then people will end up taking you all day just to go, like, get your groceries. You know, you got to get your backpack on, and you got to get in the dinghy and you got to go and you got to walk forever and you go to the store and then you hike all your stuff back. I'd say that is just everything just kind of takes a little bit longer. And then you know we don't have too many concerns.
Sometimes in certain places, we will do things like pull the dinghy up out of the water overnight because of theft. There are some parts of the world where theft is a concern. There are some parts of the world where, like piracy is a concern. We haven't encountered it, but we have known people very close to us who did so. That can be a little scary, but I mean you kind of just have to know where those places are and don't go there, don't put yourself in dangerous situations. And yeah, just checking, checking the weather, trying to be aware and responsible of what is coming.
Pat: 30:45
And yeah, Okay, well, I'm dying to ask this how is it that, living on a boat with a dog, how does a Aloy happen like handle the rough seas? I mean what? What's it like, and how does a like impact your daily life?
Liz: 31:03
She does great on the boat in general, except in rough seas she doesn't. She doesn't like it, nobody does. We're all miserable when that's happening. But she is getting pretty good at just kind of laying down and being accepting her fate. I guess, as we all are in those moments. It has definitely impacted sort of where we've decided to go and it's impacting our plans that we're trying to make for the next year. We initially wanted to cross the Pacific and go to the South Pacific. We ultimately decided not to, mostly because we just didn't think that, alloy, it would be really fair on her to do that journey. People do do it. We have, we know, friends who have dogs and have done that crossing. But it's also a little difficult to get dogs into the South Pacific. It can be difficult getting dogs in and out of countries just because of the rabies concern. You got to make sure like every country's got a slightly different. They want a health certificate and they want you know all this paperwork, so you have to kind of be on top of that all the time. But apart from the rough seas, she really enjoys like being at anchor. She hangs around and we take her to shore and she gets to run on the beach and she's with us, you know, like all day, which is great, you know, I think she just, she just enjoys hanging out with us and being on the couch and oh yeah walks and yeah,
PAT (31:17):
What advice might you give someone who was thinking of living off grid to travel the world? What, what would you say to them?
Liz: 32:25
I would say don't just jump into it without thinking at all. I think there's this like, there's a sort of mentality of like, well, you just have to go. You just got to, you just got to take the leap and make it happen, and that is true. But I think you have to do that after you've spent a pretty good amount of time really thinking about what you're going to do. Don't just necessarily throw away everything and jump in feet first without any kind of plan in place. That, I think, is sort of the main, the main thing that I've had from this, because you know all of the planning that we did do. I think we're we're very happy that we, that we did all that. But yeah, then, when you know if you, if you've done that and you're ready and you really want to do it, the other thing is like you're not going to know. There is no way to know before you do it if you're going to like it or not. You kind of just have to do it and find out. And if it turns out that you don't like it, oh well, you, you learned something about yourself.
Pat: 33:19
Yeah, you do. You know, Liz, what's remarkable about your journey is how it speaks to creative people everywhere. You've shaped a life that facilitates your writing, and this raises an essential question for all of us that are doing creative things how do we craft a lifestyle that nurtures our creativity? And I think, boy, you exemplify that in the choices that you've made and how productive you are.
Liz: 33:54
Yeah, I mean, I'm super grateful to have the time that I have to do this. You know time is your most precious resource. I think, especially as a creative person, you can't do it without time is impossible. Yeah, and it was definitely a deliberate process for me in terms of knowing. I think when we first had this idea, I wasn't necessarily thinking that it was going to support my creative endeavors. It was definitely something that, as we talked about it and as we planned, I realized oh okay, you know what, this is probably going to free me up a little bit financially to pursue some things, and that became a big part of why I wanted to pursue this lifestyle. Yeah, I think if you really want to be a creative person, you have to be creative about how you're going to do it.
Pat: 34:46
Yes, that's just the reality of the world, but also your story really supports another aspect of this that as creative people I'm a painter, you're a writer as creative people, it's imperative that we surround ourselves with people who respect and support what we do. I mean that is critical, and so maybe someone thinking about that life at sea or traveling the world, if they're going to do it with somebody, you have to. I don't know if you could actually vet someone and give them a psychological exam, but the idea it has to be somebody that you like, somebody that you get along with and who respects your creative needs and how you process.
Liz: 35:33
Yeah, So Trev and I were together for a long time before we even started having this conversation about that. I mean, I think we were together probably seven years or so before the conversation of doing this. Even. I mean, it's been 15 years at this point I can't really remember exactly the timeline, but living with someone for seven years is a great way to figure out if that's going to be the case.
Pat: 35:55
Yeah, if it's going to work or not.
So , living at sea taught you about what matters most in life?
Liz: 36:05
That's a good question. It's not so gross, but I've discovered the showering is actually not as important as I thought it was when I lived on land. Okay, you don't have to do it as much as everyone thinks you do, it's just not that big a deal. Apart from that, yeah, I think just sort of like a simplification of your needs in general overall and an appreciation for and an appreciation for those things when you do get them. So you know, like when I do get a really good hot shower, that is like a luxury and I'm so appreciative of it. They are. Showers are truly like one of life's great pleasures.
Pat: 36:43
Yeah, yeah. Well, it sounds like it gives you a different kind of appreciation. But on the flip side of that, I was really taken by the fact you don't have car payments, you don't have mortgage payments, and there is a lot of stress on creative people when they have a mortgage, when they have car payments, all those things in life that demand that you work to pay things off, and you've kind of positioned yourself where you've minimized that.
Liz: 37:11
Yeah ,and like remote living or I I don't know there's like a movement I think been for quite some time now, in the US at least, of this sort of like tiny living or off grid living, the tiny house movement, all that kind of stuff. I sort of think that that kind of lifestyle is a really good option for creative people and I'm sure there are tons of creative people who are pursuing it and doing that lifestyle because, yeah, anything that allows you to kind of not have those shackles of the monthly finances it just frees you up to do so much more. I highly recommend, if you're a creative person who's considering pursuing like an alternative lifestyle, definitely worth it. Well, it's worth exploring.
Pat: 37:57
Yeah, for sure, because it's really a basic question what do I need to make art? What do I need to have a meaningful life? I mean, those are just basic questions that you do get to ask. You get to ask those questions because you are making art about it, you're writing books about it, yeah, and you don't really need much.
Liz: 38:21
Honestly, if you're the kind of person who really is like super fulfilled by your creative pursuit which I am I mean I could I write. I do write all day and I love it and I don't feel like I'm ever going to get tired of it. Maybe I will at some point. But if you're that kind of person that really all you need is that to fill you up and some food, don't forget the food. Don't forget the food.
Pat: 38:44
That's very important. Yeah Well, as we wrap up, Liz, I can say that your life at sea is awe inspiring and, living aboard the low key, you transform your maritime adventures and cultural encounters into a series of really thrilling sci-fi and fantasy world books. I mean talk about integrating life with a life of imagination and creativity. It really is inspiring. Thank you, Liz, for sharing your incredible journey with us. And where can folks find your book ?
Liz: 39:20
Well, thanks so much for having me. First of all, this was really fun. It was a great conversation, some really nice questions, so thank you for that. You can find me at
lizshipton.com. You'll find all the things that I do. I'm very active on TikTok and Instagram, so my handle there is lizshiptonauthor, then I also am on Facebook, although I'm not quite as active over there. So those are kind of the main places, great, oh, and then the books. You can get the books on Amazon.
Pat: 39:53
Thank you, Liz.
Well, again, thank you for joining us today and thank you, listeners, for being here and listening to this incredible conversation. If you enjoyed the podcast, pass the word on to your friends. Thank you so much. Thank you -Bye.
