Hello MM and welcome aboard.
Lot's of good advice given here so far. I feel your caution is justified. I'd say you already have the skill set as a
chef (cook?) who knows how to trim a sail and steer the
boat to be in HIGH demand in the charter/delivery/private yacht world. To make yourself slightly more marketable I'd suggest picking up an
ASA bareboat charter cert. That is relatively
cheap and easy and fun. It's a basic boat handling course that allows you to rent/charter boats all over the world.
I'm sure that in a very short time you could almost demand your
price and pick your jobs between writing gigs. If the
food pics on your blog is representative of your capabilities... well, yum.
Then of course you could find a boat to live on. I don't know your
budget, but it can be done for well under 20k. Then a
dock will be something under $500 a month total.
I know this because I moved onto my little ship of dreams this week. As I'm writing this I'm laying on my King sized aft
cabin bed and listening to the frogs and crickets rocking out. A fan is keeping my nearly nude, tanned and chiseled body cool and refreshed while the lantern above my
head sways ever so gently. I'm so happy I could just lay down and scream. Do it.
PS, There might be a couple of teeny exaggerations in my post, but it's my post and I'll describe things my way, HA!