Why a YA Novel set in Hawaii?

My Ya Novel Is Set In Hawaii, but not for the reason you think

So this is me (on the left). I was six when this photo was taken. It was 1978 and I was very excited to wear this DIY grass skirt and floral lei.

My parents took me and my younger sister, Karla to Kauai, Hawaii  to visit my Aunt Linda and her family who lived there for the next thirty years.

The trip changed me. So much so, that I’ve been trying to get back there ever since.

I’ve managed a few times. I visited again at nine, fifteen, and at twenty-one. On my husband’s 50th birthday, we took our kids there for an epic adventure-filled vacation. I tracked down a house to rent one block from where my aunt had lived. I re-lived my sensory-overload experiences with my own children, and it was one of the best times of my life.

But that’s not why I set my novel in Kauai. I didn’t choose Kauai because it’s beautiful, wild, or remote, I chose it for more personal reasons.

On that first trip, I had a life-altering moment that I remember vividly, 40 years later. I was sitting under a Banyan tree. Out of nowhere, a thought struck me. In retrospect, it was an odd reflection for a six year old, definitely not the normal musings of a first grader. It was the kind of thought a twenty-six year old, or a forty-six year old might have.

The thought was: Hawaii is my place. This is where I belong. Hawaii is inside me. 

The problem with knowing something about yourself, definitively at six, is that when you can’t live in alignment with your belief, because well – you’re six, it creates a certain degree of bummed-out-ittude. I mean, I lived (and still do) in New England. New England is the opposite of Hawaii. I loved the smell of warm, salty breezes, blooming Plumeria, red-dirt, and wet, growing green things. I did not love the smell of salted icy roads, impending snow storms, mucky mud, and wet, molding dead things (and still don’t). I don’t want to knock New England. It just wasn’t and isn’t my place.

In my late twenties, (still in New England BTW, or rather WTF), I started having a reoccurring dream. It plagued me for two decades.

It went like this: I am in Hawaii. It is my last day of vacation. I haven’t done any of the things that I wanted to do. I’ve been stuck in my hotel room, looking out at the beauty that I can’t reach. I am having a thoroughly unremarkable time. The people with me don’t want to venture out. They’re holding me back, those jerks. I desperately want to get to the North Shore (see why below). Eventually, still fretting, I run out of time and have to leave, never having experienced my bliss. Did that description just turn your stomach? Me too. Oh, the horror.

I thought the dream was about getting myself to Kauai – permanently, but after reflecting and analyzing, I realized Kauai was actually the symbol in my dream representing my deeper bliss, my ultimate destination- writing a book. I was dreaming about running out of time, missing out, being held back, because I was depriving myself of the joy of writing the book that was percolating in my head. As soon as I made the decision to write, and I sat down, the words started flowing and the nightmares stopped.

Yes, ultimately I want to end as I started – as any good book should, with a happy ending. JK- I don’t mind a sad ending to books, but not for MY last chapter, baby.

Hawaii is waiting for me, and I am waiting for it. It’s inside me. See ya, New England. It’s not you, it’s me. But it’s kind of you- you’re cold, and I’m sick of you dumping (snow) on me.

Oh, I almost forgot. Why, did I set my novel in Kauai? Well, living in Kauai in my head for five years while I wrote my book was the next best thing to actually living there. Besides, Kauai is beautiful, wild, and remote. Who wouldn’t want to read a book about a place like that?

Fun fact about Hawaii… Most people think Aloha is a word that means both hello and goodbye. And it is common to say Aloha when you are greeting or parting, but that is not the literal meaning. The message of Aloha is; love, peace, and compassion.

Have you ever felt deeply connected to a place that is not your home? Tell me about it in the comments below.

Aloha Readers, xo Mariah