Talking Story
Saying No to Bibbity-Bobbity-Boo
Sitting in the dark with the dogs under my feet, kids sleeping upstairs, and husband zonked out on the couch, I take a moment to think about each of my characters in ways that never appear in the novels. How one of them sleeps with a flashlight. How meatloaf reminds...
Your Hawaiian Name Here!
People often ask me what their name is in Hawaiian. The request isn’t as odd as it sounds; if you’ve ever traveled to Hawaii, I’m sure you were overwhelmed with all the kitsch offered in stores personalized with Your Hawaiian Name Here!, everything from cheap plastic...
Beyond Print on a Screen
There's been a lot of debate in the blogosphere lately about the future of digital books. Most of the debates center around price point, format, and distribution channels. Traditional publishers are bemoaning the self-publishing frenzy as the death of good, quality...
No eBooks in the Basement
Among my bibliophile friends, I’m the only one who loves eBooks. When you read as many and as fast as I do, being able to keep a stack of novels on hand without hauling a small trailer around is a definite plus. So is packing an eReader or smart phone into a purse...
Building Character with Pinterest
I admit it. I’m not a scrapbooker. I have boxes and files of my children’s lives stashed in random places in my office and in directories on my computer because I know this stuff is too important to throw away, but the thought of sorting through it all to create a...
Team Katniss
The Hunger Games movie opens this weekend. My kids and I been waiting for over a year to see how this story and characters transition to the screen, sighing or exclaiming over every casting choice and set design chronicled in Entertainment Weekly. Wanting to be...
Speed Reader
Remember those timed reading tests in elementary school? At high tech Kahului Elementary in 2nd grade, I remember my teacher pushing play on a cassette tape and then watching me as I read aloud and moved my finger along the text, keeping pace with the voice on the...
One Boy, No Water: Excerpt #5
From One Boy, No Water Book 1 of The Niuhi Shark Saga “The shark,” said Uncle Kahana, finally blinking. “It wen come tangled in the net.” He shook his ice and looked in the bottom of the glass, seeing what we couldn’t imagine. “He jumped in to save the shark.” He gave...
10 Ways My Husband Says I Love You
I already did the dishes. Frizzy? When you say frizzy I think Bozo the Clown. That's not frizzy at all. What? That little thing? It's so small I don’t think anyone noticed. A Lifetime movie? Sure, I’ll watch the game later. Wow, your toes are cold! Don’t go higher...
Blurb Blocked
So Jolly Fish Press asked me to write the blurb for One Boy, No Water. They gave me a week. No problem, I thought. An hour, tops. The days went by and I didn't even think about it. No need to rush. I've got a week. And suddenly, I didn't. It was DUE. I sat down at the...
Be Nice or Else
It's all about the buzz. For an author, once a debut novel has a publication date it's no longer about writing, it's about marketing. A large amount of time and energy is spent by publishers on getting the book in front of People Who Matter, begging them to first read...
When Everything Old is New Again
Remember Friday Night Frights? My cousins and I would stay up late sprawled out on the living room pune'e and watch all the B (and C and D) horror and Samurai movies, blankets and pillows over our heads most of the time. I think those classic 5-4-4 your pants monsters...
Press Release for One Boy, No Water
Jolly Fish Press to Swim with Sharks Fall 2012 PROVO, UT—Jolly Fish Press (JFP) has successfully acquired the North American distribution and publication rights to Lehua Parker’s debut children’s book, One Boy, No Water. One Boy, No Water, the first of five books in...
Yes, Lehua, There is a Publisher
I’ve been working off and on a middle grade children’s series set in Hawaii for several years. It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy writing it—I did—and it wasn’t that I kept running out of ideas—if anything, I had too many. The problem was a much bigger question. What was I...
New School Blues
I hated having to go to a new school, and the change between Kahului Elementary on Maui and Kamiloiki Elementary on Oahu couldn’t have been more dramatic. At Kahului the kids were only one or two generations from the sugar cane plantation and lived in...
One Boy, No Water: Excerpt #4
From One Boy, No Water Book 1 of The Niuhi Shark Saga Jay sat back in his chair and scoffed. “You behind the times, Uncle K. Get plenny kine shark bite people: bull shark, great white, tiger, hammerhead—” “No. Only one kine: niuhi.” “No, I saw it on Shark Week! In...
Marketing Literature in the Bird
One of the big stumbling blocks to writing Hawaiian fiction in the "bird," as I recently heard someone call Pidgin, is finding the audience. Native Hawaiian Pidgin English speakers like to talk story and certainly sing story; read story maybe not so much. At least...
One Boy, No Water: Excerpt #3
From One Boy, No Water Book 1 of The Niuhi Shark Saga “Jay,” said Nili-boy softly, “What’s the haps?” “I saw…I think I saw a shark,” said Jay. “Who’s a pretty girl, hah?” Nili-boy gave ‘Ilima a final ear ruffle and stood with a shrug. “Probably. Get plenny sharks out...
One Boy, No Water: Excerpt #2
From One Boy, No Water Book 1 of The Niuhi Shark Saga I sensed it first, some motion out of the corner of my eye, color darting too fast against the sun. I flipped off my jacket’s hood and whipped my head toward the Nalupūkī shoreline in time to see someone scrambling...
One Boy, No Water: Excerpt #1
From One Boy, No Water Book 1 in The Niuhi Shark Saga Climbing over the first slippery finger, out the corner of his eye Kahana saw movement, a quick, angry flick of a tail near the far edge of the reef. Moving his hand to block the sun, he spotted the dark bullet...