Teague de La Plaine: Now
Creating
I'm still working on two sequels (Space Force Recondo series and GOST series) as well as preparing to publish a military romance series here on Substack. I have a new home for my newsletter and podcast here at Storyslinger. I've also completely abandoned social media to focus on Storyslinger and my website.
I’m also working on a new album of country music. More to follow as this develops.
Reading
I read as much as I can. I just don't have the free time (and what free time I do make or find I use for writing). I finished Orca by John Pennington and Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins and Generation of Vipers by Peter Cawdron. I just downloaded and started Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari. I also really want to read Stephen King’s Fairy Tale. And I'll read anything new that Hugh Howey or Chuck Wendig put out.
For 2024, I plan to read more fiction for both enjoyment and absorbing good writing. I’m still ever-curious about how humans function, so I will continue reading writers like David Goggins (I’m halfway through Never Finished) and Jordan Peterson (12 Rule for Life series).
Sailing Sabbatical
I’ve been talking for over a decade about taking off on a sailboat to see the world. I’ve messed about in boats since I was a kid (and even got my merchant captain’s license at one point in my life). I remember spending allowance money on sailing magazines when I was ten and looking at the boat ads in the back, drawing sailboat layouts on Saturday mornings, and imagining living aboard.
Pat and Ali over at Bumfuzzle first gave me the confidence that I could do it. And many others (Jamie and Behan Gifford of Sailing Totem stand out) have proved to me that this can be done with a family on board.
As I near retirement from the Marines, I’m trying to speed up the timeline. I’ve got a boat (finally), a 1986 Liberty 28 Cutter. She’s pretty small, but big enough to squeeze into and sturdy enough to head offshore. The plan is to spend time with the family gunkholing in Tampa Bay or venturing south to the Keys, Dry Tortugas, and into the Caribbean. We still want a cruising catamaran one day, but we’re happy to be back on the water in the meantime.
Updated Autumn 2023