Aloha in the Hawaian language means hello and goodbye. My writing news has been light in recent months and I thought I would explain my situation to my readers. I was born in Detroit, mostly raised in California. I’ve lived in San Jose, Berkeley, New York City, Pasadena, Green Bay, and now Morgan Hill which is close to San Jose. Berkeley and New York City were college student moves. Pasadena, Green Bay, Morgan Hill, and now Green Bay are entire life moves. The longest I’ve stayed anywhere in my adult life is 16 years in Pasadena, though Morgan Hill comes in a close second at 13 years. Except for this upcoming move, all were made for jobs. Each time, I’ve moved my house’s contents and my pets.
Like many authors, I’m an introvert and left to my own devices I self-isolate as that’s my comfort zone. However, I know that science shows that is not a healthy way to live. I began a little more than two years ago to look for my “forever home.” I think everyone asks themself this question at some point in their life and I have the privilege and luxury of having the resources to choose. I have one sibling (+SIL), one parent, and one niece—so a small family. I basically have the ability to choose anywhere in the world. That said, I have an awesome handful of friends in Green Bay, WI. So that’s where I chose. I’ll be leaving California forever on April 3rd. The house I’m building in Green Bay is zero entry which is more suited to my knee arthritis. In the last six months, I’ve had to make many decisions on that new house from two-thousand miles away (with a little help from my friends). In this past month, I’ve had to make decisions about my house that has been sold in California. Again, what a luxury, but it has also sapped my creative brain or maybe I should say my creative brain has been used in a different way.
I’ve had many people ask if I can afford to live in California, why would I move to Wisconsin? First, because of those friendships. Secondly, I live with about ten million people in the busy San Francisco Bay Area where everyone is hustling for work or to survive. The traffic is only good between ten and two, and not always on the weekend. Why stay on that treadmill if you don’t have to? Sure the weather is perfect, but ask yourself how often you spend time doing activities that demand perfect weather? I will miss the grandeur of the mountains, but I’m trading that for a water view.
My mother entered hospice about 18 months ago, and was discharged 2 months ago. She’s 94 and has had a long journey with Parkinson’s Disease. However, she’s the Eveready Bunny, in that she takes a licking and keeps on ticking. My brother will be moving her in an RV to my house along with her caregiver about a week after my arrival. It will be the first time I’ve had roommates since my junior year of college. I bet some stories will come out of that trip as well as my new roommates that might be featured in an upcoming novel.
So what does Hawaii have to do with any of the above story? I looked up as I was writing this newsletter and saw the rainbow. How cool is that? My only vacation this year is this short week in Maui. Maui is easy to navigate when you’re coming from California, it’s twice as long in the air with two plane changes from Wisconsin, so this is likely my last trip here. Frankly though, it was my last trip anyhoo as Maui is becoming as commercialized as Oahu. I’ll have to move on to Kauai or Molokai next. Maui is also sad, looking at the destruction of Lahaina from the fires last October. Many partially burned homes from the highway haven’t been torn down yet, and there is a large memorial to the 100+ people who lost their lives. I fear five years from now the native population will be permanently pushed out of the region due to a lack of affordable housing. Tourism is the savior and destruction of Maui.
When I return to California, I’ll be packing up my house for the moving truck. I’ll have a few trips to the dump. I’ll also add a few things from my mother’s house, but my brother will mostly deal with clearing or storing things from there.
I plan to start the second book in the Stephanie Jones series while I’m here in Maui. I needed a day to be mindless and lazy and I accomplished that yesterday. Now It’s time to start writing Witch’s Quest, book two in that series. I hope once I'm over this moving hurdle, I'll speed up my writing again and get to another jill Quint and another Damian Green story and then the third book in the Stephanie Jones series.
Aloha,
Alec