Crooked Island to Pittstown Landing, Bahamas

.3 nm
Wind: SE 15 knots, gusting to 20 under thunderclouds
Seas: two-foot chop in harbor
Latitude: 22°49.02’N
Longitude: 074°20.65’W

I’m reeling again tonight, after the announcement that Karl’s just made. I have a job interview for tomorrow! Karl went to shore this afternoon, after we moved the boat closer to shore to try to escape the bad swell in this anchorage. He called his family after being given a ride down to the resort on the point down here, the Crooked Island Lodge. According to him, it’s a pretty posh place, where Jimmy Buffett’s sister got married, with stellar views of the lighthouse off the point. The girl he got a ride with is the owners’ nanny, and they evidently don’t have a replacement.

It’ll probably end up being nothing, but the prospect of being a gainfully employed citizen again after all these months of bumhood is a little staggering. By Karl’s account, though, it sounds like a pretty amazing place, and a pretty amazing opportunity. The funny thing is, I’ve never been a nanny before. The closest I’ve come is tutoring middle-school students in France.

It’s funny, though, we’ve been praying for exactly this kind of encounter. It really would solve all our problems--give us the cash to haul the boat and fix some of her problems, give us a place to settle down and just be for a while, without having to keep on moving. If it worked out, it would be ideal. But I can’t get ahead of myself.

I do have mixed feelings, though. On the one hand, being a nanny at a Bahamian resort sounds like a fairly idyllic position. On the other, I had resolved to let my next job be for myself, to really make an effort to turn my writing into a serious profession. How can I do that unless I devote myself to it? I always doubt myself. I have my whole life. Real writers, true artists, have unsinkable faith in themselves and their talent, and preternatural discipline, the ability to chain themselves to their desks for months on end. I have neither of those things. But if I never give it a chance, how will I know whether or not I can succeed?

I know I’m getting ahead of myself. If nothing else, I hope tomorrow will be a pleasant day, that I’ll be able to talk to my family and meet some people who must be kindred spirits, if only because they’re choosing to raise their daughter here. The best thing to walk away with would be good friends.