Nancy Taylor Robson is one of the first women in the country to earn a US Coast Guard license. She grew up sailing and building boats with her father and worked as a housepainter, desk clerk and yacht maintenance person while in college. After earning a degree in history, she married and went to work alongside her husband as cook/deckhand on an old 85-foot tugboat. The fear of being maimed or lost overboard, the male opposition, and the drudgery during seagoing tours that ranged from Maine to Florida, Bermuda, New Orleans and Mexico was coupled with romantic sunsets, a ringside seat on nature and an appreciation for hard won accomplishment. Robson, one of a handful of women who paved the way for every intrepid woman who has followed, brings that world alive. Author of numerous articles and essays, Nancy Taylor Robson is also the author of two novels: Course of the Waterman and A Love Like No Other: Abigail and John Adams, A Modern Love Story. Empty Empty I wrote this book when I came ashore to raise our children (one of us had to -- we couldn't both go away for weeks on end and let someone else screw up our kids; that's our job). I thought at the time that it was a chapter in my life that was completely closed. I had tried to keep working on tugs after our children were born --I once left my husband with two babies while I took a tug and tow up the Atlantic coast from the Chesapeake to New Hampshire -- bliss, six hours on watch, six off, like a vacation from the 24/7 of looking after tiny kids. But in the end, I couldn't manage it. I stayed home, became a freelance writer (Chesapeake Bay Magazine, Yachting, Baltimore Sun, etc). I loved doing that too, and don't regret it, but what a change from the life I had known for six years! Then came the kicker. Our daughter wound up going to sea. I advised against it, but she did it anyway (we raise these kids to be independent and to think for themselves and then, darn it, they ARE and they DO!). She is now the second mate on a petroleum tanker in the Pacific (and needs to write her own book). My own mother didn't worry much about me when I was running tugs because she knew very little about the life out there, (and told me once she thought tugs were romantic -- yes...but...), but because of my own experiences on ocean-going tugs, I know too much about what to worry about. Probably serves me right. Author of numerous articles and essays that have appeared in The Christian Science Monitor, House Beautiful, Coastal Living, Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, Sailing, Woodenboat, WorkBoat, Chesapeake Bay Magazine and more, Nancy Taylor Robson is also the author of two novel: Course of the Waterman, and A Love LIke No Other: Abigail and John Adams, A Modern Love Story. After earning her degree in history, Nancy Taylor Robson married and went to work alongside her husband as cook/deckhand on an old 85-foot oceangoing tugboat. The fear of being maimed or lost overboard, the male opposition, and the drudgery during seagoing tours that ranged from Maine to Florida, Bermuda, New Orleans and Mexico was coupled with romantic sunsets, an intimate connection with Nature, and an appreciation for hard won accomplishments. Robson, one of a handful of women who paved the way for every intrepid woman who has followed, brings that world alive. Nancy Taylor Robson grew up sailing and building boats with her father, married a tugboat captain, (who she's still happily married to) and embarked on a life of adventure, challenge and fun. Her first book, Woman in the Wheelhouse , told the sometimes harrowing story of working on an old coastal tugboat as cook/deckhand. She earned a tug operator's license and worked in Mexico in the Campeche oil fields on a supply boat. Her second, the award-winning coming of age novel,  Course of the Waterman , tells the story of a young Eastern Shore waterman. The historical novel, A Love Like No Other: Abigail and John Adams, A Modern Love Story , takes readers into the lives of the new nation's strong-willed second First Lady and her stubborn, often-absent and adored husband, John, our second US President. Robson wrote the book because she had spent big chunks of time raising children alone while her husband was at sea.  Her fourth and most recent book, OK Now What? A Caregiver's Guide to What Matters (Head to Wind Publishing) offers the millions of people encouragement, practical advice and the stories of others who have walked this difficult and occasionally rewarding path.A freelance writer for many years, Robson has published personal essays, features, maritime reporting and analysis, travel, garden and more for such places as The Washington Post, Yachting, House Beautiful, The Baltimore Sun, the Christian Science Monitor, Southern Living, Sailing , and more. She is also a University of Maryland Master Gardener, who grows and cans the family's fruits and vegetables. She writes, sails, races sailboats (occasionally), walks the German Shepherd dogs