My Life
Following dreams, doing your purpose
Following dreams and doing your purpose while living in the shadow of mortality makes life so sweet. We had a rough year in 2011. My husband’s health was in crisis, and the whole year we were in “survival mode”—me working three jobs to keep the boat afloat, Mike doing...
Top Twenty Regrets from the Teen Years
I’m working on a new book: a YA mystery. In the course of getting back into the head of my angst-ridden sixteen-year old character, I asked a question on my Facebook page: “What is one mistake you made as a teen that you regret?” Here are the top twenty regrets from...
#Creativity breaks through when a master lends a hand
I have a theory that different kinds of uses of the brain stimulate it, and that helps overall creativity and problem-solving. I’ve been putting that theory to the test this year by working on my painting alongside my writing. Until today, it’s been nothing but a...
Hawaii Christmas traditions: family times in Hana, Maui
Since the kids were in junior high (old enough to help with the massive work involved with camping) we’ve been...
Christmas in Hawaii: Top Five Best and Worst Things
It’s always nice to start with the worst so you can end on a happy note. FIVE WORST THINGS ABOUT CHRISTMAS IN HAWAII: The price to see family. We’re stuck three thousand miles away from anyone out here, and flying at the holidays is two things: exorbitant and...
What would you say to your younger self in two words?
What would you say to your younger self in two words? I post these pictures and positives on my Facebook page--my little way of doing some mental health encouragement for my friends and followers. Yesterday's post, this picture, yielded such a bounty of wonderful...
The other woman: middle age.
The other woman in my life is middle age. She's a cruel mistress. I came up with that phrase myself, liked the ring of it. Then I thought, why is middle age female? Shoot, male middle age is a mean bastard! Somehow I didn’t think it would happen to me, and I know The...
My Writing
Rip Tides, #LeiCrimeSeries #9, is here!
RIP TIDES: Lei Crime Series #9 Surfing in Hawaii can be fame, talent and… murder. Poised to win the prestigious Triple Crown of Surfing, Maui surf star Makoa Simmons washes up tragically dead. Detective Lei Texeira plunges into a high-profile case whose dark and...
Cheryl Strayed: sitting at the feet of a Wild woman
Cheryl Strayed hiked 1100 miles alone. And she didn’t just do that, she wrote about it in a gut-wrenching, unflattering, brutally-honest memoir called Wild that deeply affected me and influenced the writing in my literary suspense hike novel, Unsound. Some of you know...
Top Six Ways to Sell a Ton of Books
These six ways to sell a ton of books have been the cornerstone of my success with the Lei Crime Series. As the launch date of the Lei Crime Kindle World approaches (April 7) the excitement is increasing—and also the questions. How did I do it? What makes the Lei...
Lei Crime Kindle World coming soon!
I’m thrilled and honored to announce there's going to be Lei Crime Kindle World fan fiction site coming soon--April 7! No idea what I’m talking about? Check it out here, and don’t forget to watch the fun video with Hugh Howey and Bella Andre talking about crossing...
Authors' #writing places and spaces
Authors write in all sorts of places, I discovered when I invited some of my writer friends to submit photos of their work spaces. Some travel light, like...
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