E is for Explore

Today's quote comes from one of my writing idols, Joss Whedon.

“I write to give myself strength. I write to be the characters that I am not. I write to EXPLORE all the things I'm afraid of." ~ Joss Whedon

I love this quote but it also makes me laugh a little. I've always been such a chicken that if I explore all the things I'm afraid of it's safe to say that I will never run out of topics. :D 

In all seriousness though I do relate to the quote and I'm grateful that writing has given me the outlet to do all of these things. 

I hope everyone had a good weekend and has a great week ahead. 

U is for Up Island

My favorite places on Martha's Vineyard, including Aquinnah, shown above, are all "up island," which is somewhat odd because they are actually in the southwestern part of the island. I never knew why the area was called "up island" but chalked it up to typical Vineyard eccentricity.

But while researching posts for the A-Z Challenge I learned that the name comes from the fact that as you travel west on the island you move up the scale of longitude. The longitude of Aquinnah is -70.800786399999990000 while the longitude of Edgartown on the eastern edge of the island is -70.51335990000001. 

Apparently the phrase "up island" is a holdover from the island's seafaring history. So I learned something new this year thanks to the A-Z! 

My A-Z of Martha's Vineyard theme is inspired by my book, The Ghosts of Aquinnah, which is set on the island. Click here for all the info on the book.