Long days, beautiful sunsets, and vacation. Summer isn’t the quietest time of the year at my real life job, quite the opposite. But it’s also the time of year I find myself with the most inspiration to write (even if it’s hard to find the time).

So instead of babbling on about writing or a book, I thought I’d share some photos of some recent trips I’ve taken. Inspiration for writing, inspiration for life. The promise of time away always gets my heart pumping. And maybe vacations end too soon, but they leave behind a taste for the next one and motivation to make it through the daily grind.

We live in North Carolina, just a few hours from the ocean. Until recently, we’ve had our boat at the Carolina coast. We’d spend weekends aboard when we never left the docks. It didn’t matter. The coast is beautiful.

Most of these photos were taken from our boat while we were at anchor. Quiet and peaceful. Zen. I hope you can feel a little of that peace when you see these.

Next time, I’ll talk a little about the books these photos inspired, but for now, have a great summer! See you soon! -Shira

PS: Sirius isn’t a huge fan of the boat, but he does look pretty darn cute in his life-jacket!