My Life
Grown here. Not flown here. Integration in #Hawaii.
"Grown here, not flown here." Integration in Hawaii: is there such a thing? The mystery that is the social strata of life in Hawaii is something I’m exploring in my Lei books, something that’s so complex, multilayered, multiethnic, and fraught with territoriality...
The maid who stole Joy.
(An autobiographical essay.) Golden dust motes rose and spiraled in the lance of sun that came through the skylight as the teenage girl dusted. She wielded an ostrich-feather duster with more art than function—she liked to imagine it was a fancy fan, and she a belle...
On Bandits and Philanthropists
I woke up this morning thinking about razors. Specifically, about razors for a homeless teen… along with soap, shampoo, a toothbrush and food for his cat. But first I have to back up and share a post from pundit Seth Godin. (He's the one to come up with the catchy...
Attention Deficit Nation
Stress. Distractibility. It's everywhere. I don't wonder why I'm stressed. I work at a stressful job (therapy with children and adolescents is far from the sit-down airconditioned affair people imagine therapy to be) I also overschedule myself and set some pretty...
Fifth time's the charm: another call to Child Welfare.
***ALL IDENTIFYING DETAILS CHANGED TO PROTECT CONFIDENTIALITY***** Some of you already know that in my "real life" I'm a school counselor and therapist. Today there’s a picture of a bruise on my phone. I took that picture hours earlier, holding my too-accurate iPhone...
Corrupted by beauty: #Kaua`i
When you grow up in a place like Kaua`i, it does something to you. The island's enchantment ruins everywhere else. I call it being corrupted by beauty. This can be difficult, because ever after you try to find a way to live in a place people visit on vacation, and...
#Kaua`i: an island of extremes.
I grew up on Kaua`i. You probably don't appreciate what a statement that is, but Kauai is a place of extremes. Extreme beauty. Extreme isolation. Extreme weather. Extreme attitudes. It's a very small place--when I was a kid, stable population of less than 35,000 and...
My Writing
Tips for readers and authors on effective reviews.
Tips for readers and authors on effective reviews. Reviews are readers’ gifts to authors. In this marketplace of clamor, where even free books glut our email inboxes, how do readers decide what to choose? Word of mouth, and reviews. And reviews are written form of...
Stolen in Paradise is here!
Stolen in Paradise, a Lei Crime Companion novel, will knock your heels off! One betta fish, two dead biologists, three trysts, four suspects and thirty-five pairs of shoes add up to complicated days in paradise for Special Agent Marcella Scott. Marcella gets into sand...
Women and the new entrepreneurship
Women and the new entrepreneurship. I’ve finally, truly wrapped my head around the fact that I’m an entrepreneur. A business owner. (It’s April 7, and the ink is drying on the checks I just wrote that prove it, made out to U.S. Treasury and Hawaii State Tax Collector,...
Beauty of a good read: The Red: First Light, by Linda Nagata
The beauty of a good read. The Red: First Light, by Linda Nagata--review and interview! The Red: First Light, by Linda Nagata, is a fast-paced, gritty, near-future militaristic sci-fi tale that combines all of my favorite things: a broken hero, hopeless love, a...
Stolen in Paradise cover reveal will knock your heels off!
Stolen in Paradise cover reveal will knock your heels off! Stolen in Paradise, A Lei Crime Companion Novel, is on track for an April release. The pieces are coming together, starting with the cover! So, I had this idea for a different sort of "feel" to the cover,...
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