Tag: Gulf of Mexico

• LIGHTHOUSE PASSION SERIES – CEDAR KEY

  

  Perched atop one of the highest points on Florida’s west coast sits the state’s shortest lighthouse. The Cedar Keys Lighthouse, built in 1854, stands a mere 28-feet tall upon a 52-foot sand dune on Seahorse Key in the Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuge in the Big Bend area of Florida. I’ve visited Seahorse Key several…

  P. C. Zick

  June 3, 2025

  environment, Life in the United States, Lighthouses, Ramblings of a Writer, travel

  Big Bend, Cedar Key, Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuge, Florida lighthouses, Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Helene, Hurricane of 1896, Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge, Lt. George Meade, marine lab, Seahorse Key, shipping port, Suwannee River, University of Florida

• SMALL TOWNS ROCK – CEDAR KEY, FLORIDA

  

  When I moved to a small north Florida town in 1980, I loved the location in the middle of the state. We could drive to the Atlantic Ocean in less than two hours, or we could be sitting at a bar overlooking the Gulf of Mexico in less than ninety minutes. Harry Cruise, a Florida…

  P. C. Zick

  May 27, 2025

  Books by P. C. Zick, environment, Environmental Concerns, Life in the United States, Ramblings of a Writer, Small Town, wildlife

  Atlantic Ocean, Carl Hiassen, Cedar Key, Florida Fiction Series, Florida small towns, Gulf of Mexico, Harry Cruise, hurricanes, lumber, oysters, small towns, Sunshine State, Tortoise Stew, University of Florida

• TRAILS IN THE SAND CELEBRATES #FREE

  

  To start off Earth Day 2025 week, I’m offering my Florida Fiction novel, Trails in the Sand, for free downloads April 21-25. What does this novel have to do with Earth Day? Everything. Book Blurb: When environmental writer Caroline Carlisle sets off to report on endangered sea turtles during the Deepwater BP oil spill in…

  P. C. Zick

  April 20, 2025

  Books by P. C. Zick, environment, Environmental Concerns, interview, Life in the United States, Ramblings of a Writer, Trails in the Sand, wildlife

  BP oil spill, Cape Canaveral, Deepwater Horizon, Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Earth Day, Florida beaches, Florida environment, Florida Environmental Novel, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Gulf of Mexico, oiled wildlife, sea turtle eggs, sea turtle nests, Trails in the Sand

• SOPCHOPPY – SMALL TOWN BIG IN NATURE

  

  The Worm Gruntin’ Festival first drew my eye to the small town of Sopchoppy, Florida, located between Tallahassee and the Gulf of Mexico. I had no idea what it was, but it sounded weirdly fun. Worm Gruntin’ is an ancient technique to get earthworms up from the ground. A wooden stake—a “stob”—is pounded into the…

  P. C. Zick

  April 8, 2025

  environment, Life in the United States, Ramblings of a Writer, Small Town, travel

  bait, Civic Brewing Co., craft beer, earthworms, fishing, Florida, Florida environment, Florida small towns, Gulf of Mexico, Ochlocknee Bay, Ochlocknee River, saltwater fishing, Sopchoppy, Sopchoppy River, Worm Gruntin’ Festival

• Lighthouse Passion

  A dark and stormy night out on the seas with waves crashing the sides of the ship and cargo and crew slipping from port to starboard through the tumultuous waters threatened many a sailor and passenger with burial at sea as the ship neared shore and unknown dangers of a rocky coast and shallow sandbars…

  P. C. Zick

  February 18, 2025

  travel

  Atlantic Coast, Big Bend, Florida lighthouses, Florida Panhandle, Florida’s Forgotten Coast, Great Lakes, Gulf of Mexico, keeper’s quarters, lighthouse, Michigan lighthouses, Montauk Point, navigational guides, sea travel

• Reality Informs Fiction: Trails in the Sand

  

  I’m a firm believer in the subject choosing the author. When that happens, it’s best to let the muse lead me to the keyboard and allow the words to find their way to the story. Trails in the Sand stands as my testament to the process.

  P. C. Zick

  April 21, 2019

  Books by P. C. Zick, Trails in the Sand

  BP oil spill, characters, contemporary fiction, Deepwater Horizon oil spill, environment, Florida Panhandle, Gulf of Mexico, literary fiction, oiled wildlife, sea turtle eggs, sea turtles, Trails in the Sand, writing process

• ANNIVERSARY AND CELEBRATION #oilspill

  

  Sometimes an anniversary involves a celebration of some sort. The events marked today are separate, yet inexplicably connected through virtue of their messages. Six years ago today, BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, killing eleven men working on the rig and doing untold damage to the environment and wildlife as…

  P. C. Zick

  April 20, 2016

  Ramblings of a Writer

  BP oil spill, Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Don Blankenship, Earth Day, Gulf of Mexico, Massey Mine, P.C. Zick, Trails in the Sand

• Reality Creeps Into Fiction – #DeepwaterHorizon

    Five years ago today, the oil rig Deepwater Horizon caught on fire.  Even though the newscasters downplayed its significance that morning, I felt a black cloud deepen. I’d just moved to southwestern Pennsylvania where news of the Upper Big Branch coal mine disaster a few hours away in West Virginia still dominated local news.…

  P. C. Zick

  April 20, 2015

  Books by P. C. Zick, Trails in the Sand

  BP oil spill, characters, contemporary fiction, Deepwater Horizon oil spill, environment, Florida Panhandle, Gulf of Mexico, oiled wildlife, sea turtle eggs, sea turtles, Trails in the Sand

• A Writing Gift to Myself

  By Patricia Zick @PCZick In the past few weeks, I resurrected the first draft of a novel I began in 2006 and then left when I accepted a job with the state in Tallahassee, Florida, in 2007. It’s tentatively titled Safe Harbor. The protagonist, Emily Booth, and the antagonist, Julia Curry, are names from another…

  P. C. Zick

  April 1, 2013

  Books by P. C. Zick, Ramblings of a Writer

  characters, fiction, first draft, Gulf of Mexico, novel, sea turtles, Stephen Foster, story, Suwannee River, writing