It was another day in the office—filing new boater applications, counting rent checks, and talking shop with whoever wandered through. As a marina manager, I heard a lot of stories. Some tall, some tired, most told over a counter sticky with salt. Meanwhile, I was daydreaming about taking our own boat, Avocet, to far-off places.

That’s when a man walked in with sea stories I didn’t yet know I needed.

He told me about his son and daughter-in-law who lived aboard a sailboat in Santa Cruz—my hometown. That caught my attention. Said they were young, adventurous, planning to sail south. My ears perked. But it was his daughter-in-law, Liz Shipton, who really made me pause.

“She’s a writer,” he said. “Smart. Brave. The real deal.”

A woman who writes and sails? A kindred spirit. I was intrigued.

I followed her wake the way we often do these days—through glowing screens and short, salt-soaked posts on social media. I got to say hello once, briefly, in my home port before she and her partner Trevor slipped the lines aboard their 1986 Morgan, Loki, and disappeared over the horizon, chasing a story they were still in the middle of writing.

Since then, Liz has published nine novels, wrangled a bit of viral fame, launched her first Kickstarter from a Caribbean anchorage, and built a loyal readership stretching from Denmark to Argentina—all while living full-time aboard  Loki with Trevor and their dog, Aloy. “I guess you could call us a cruising family,” Liz told me. “We started from Santa Cruz [California] and just… didn’t stop.”

I reached out to Liz to get the scoop on how sailing and writing has treated her lately – I was definitely not disappointed. 

A Floating Beginning

Liz hadn’t sailed much before they left California in 2021. Trevor had studied sailing at San Diego State, taught classes, and captained for Yacht Week in Croatia. But Liz? She signed on for the adventure with what she calls “a slightly unhinged and probably naive” willingness.

“We were partially motivated by the California housing market,” she laughed. “But mostly by a desire to travel and see the natural world on a budget.”

Loki became both a vehicle and a vessel for transformation—not just in miles, but in story. As they made their way down the Pacific Coast, Liz started writing Salt, her debut novel. It was supposed to be a standalone. It became a series. Then a whole world.

Dystopia With a Dog

Salt, the first book in The Thalassic Series, opens on a crumbling California coastline in a near-future world ravaged by climate collapse. Two friends and a dog set sail from their hometown, forced to navigate a dangerous waterworld filled with floating cities, tech-obsessed pirates, and rising tides.

Sound familiar?

“A lot of that first book came straight from our early cruising life,” Liz said. “I started writing my first book right around the time we left Santa Cruz in 2021. I’d always wanted to write, and I knew this lifestyle would give me the freedom to do that – both financially, and in terms of time.” 

“You have a lot of time to write when you’re on a boat, and the overhead costs of a life without rent, mortgage, a car, or health insurance mean that I am able to write fiction when I would otherwise spend that time freelancing (I still do freelance to pay the bills, but it’s very part-time at this point.)”

Even the series’ most endearing character (in my opinion)—Malarkey, the dog—is modeled after their real-life pup, Aloy, who has spent nearly her whole life aboard Loki. “She’s the heart of the story,” Liz said. “She’s the one that keeps everyone alive.”

Writing Salt wasn’t a chore or a hustle—it was a lifeline. “I wrote most of it on my phone during night watches. There’s something about the rhythm of the sea that makes your brain slow down in the right way. I had no deadlines, no expectations. It was just me writing what I wanted to read.”

The series now spans nine books. It’s dark, strange, sharply funny, and soaked in saltwater. Readers have compared it to The Hunger Games and The Water Knife, but with more boat jokes and better characters. And though it lives in dystopia, The Thalassic Series is, at its core, a love letter to cruising life: its freedom, its friction, and its fragility.

Writing From the Waterline

This lifestyle gives Liz what many authors crave: time. “Without rent, a car, or health insurance premiums, I can afford to write fiction. If we were on land, I’d probably still be grinding out freelance writing gigs to pay the bills. This way, I get to tell stories.” However, life as a boat-bound author has its trade-offs. 

Running a business from a boat means navigating more than just shifting wind and dodgy squalls, there are logistical headaches to consider. “We had to sail to Puerto Rico to ship out Kickstarter rewards because we needed USPS access,” she said. “I can’t offer signed copies because we don’t have storage or reliable shipping. Everything has to be digital or small.”

Liz doesn’t have a “dedicated” office onboard. Instead, she’s tried writing from just about every corner of the boat, eventually gravitating toward one particular spot where the magic tends to happen. “The couch in the main salon is my office,” she said. “The airflow’s good. That matters more than you think. I’ve tried writing in the v-berth, but being a sweaty genius is no fun.”

If you’ve ever scrolled through her Instagram or TikTok, you’ll recognize the exact spot she’s talking about—where storylines unfold, characters come to life, and the vibe is as effortlessly cool as the author herself. It’s easy to see why that cozy corner earned both her loyalty and a loyal following.

Fame, Anchors, and Algorithms

Liz’s books started gaining traction, slowly at first—then all at once. A few videos she posted on Instagram and TikTok went viral – a few of her videos describing book tropes got millions of views! Suddenly, she had an agent. A traditional publishing deal. Readers around the world.

“It was a bit surreal,” she said. “In St. Thomas, someone literally yelled, ‘Are you Liz Shipton?!’ while I was dropping the anchor. I just stared at them like, ‘What alternate timeline is this?’”

But with virality came pressure. “Now I kind of have to be on social media, which I hate. It is extremely detrimental to your mental health, but I know I wouldn’t have made it this far without it.” 

What Comes Next?

Her upcoming book, Dot Slash Magic, is an urban fantasy about a twenty-something coder who stumbles upon a hidden magical society at her community college and accidentally builds an AI powered by sorcery. “It’s a fast-paced, comedy-filled romp with tech, magic, krakens, dragons and a bit of sailing (of course!)” she said.

The book is currently available for preorder, and Liz is preparing a Kickstarter for a collector’s edition of The Thalassic Series. Her current work-in-progress, Mother & Slaughter, is being released chapter-by-chapter on Patreon.

As for sailing? The crew is heading back to Grenada for hurricane season. After that, more Caribbean cruising—maybe Europe one day. “We’d love to cross an ocean, but not with the dog. So for now, we’re focused on building the business and exploring the islands.”

Liz Shipton writes the kind of stories you want to disappear into—strange, sharp, and soaked with the salt of lived experience. Her characters drift through post-apocalyptic seas with barely more knowledge than the average new cruiser, and somehow, they survive. Sometimes even thrive.

Just like the woman who wrote them.

We haven’t caught up with them aboard Avocet yet, but I hope we do. Partly because I want to talk books, partly because I want to pet Aloy—and mostly because it’s not every day you get to share an anchorage with someone who’s turning the chaos of cruising into entire worlds.

Check out her website for all of the details: https://lizshipton.com/