Lisa Yee's Blog: Yes, I Had to Go to Kaua'i

There are many sacrifices a dedicated author must make for her craft. Like traveling. Yes, I had to go to Kaua'i where the weather was hovering around 80 degrees. Here's the view from my room at the Kaua'i Beach Resort, and other stuff . . .

What were we doing on Kaua'i? Lots. As you may know, I wrote ALOHA, KANANI and GOOD JOB, KANANI for American Girl's 2011 Girl of the Year.

The last time I was on the island, I was doing super secret research. But this time, I came to tell everyone I wrote the books!

It was a blast at KONG, the FM radio station. Not only did I do an interview, but so did my American Girl editor, Jennifer Hirsch, and my monk seal research consultant, Tim Robinson. Oh, and of course, Peepy upstaged us all when she revealed that she'd been invited to William and Kate's royal wedding, but decided not to go because she didn't have anything to wear . . .

After, on our way to a school visit, we stopped to admire the view . . .

Get a load of the backdrop of Hanalei School! Ronalee and Tim from the Kaua'i Monk Seal Watch Program talked to the students about how they can help save the endangered monk seals, and I talked about:
1) Writing the Kanani books.
2) The ulcer in my eyeball.
3) Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy.

(The answer is #1, however I do have an ulcer in my eyeball, but it's healing well, thankyouverymuch.)

It was so fun at Hanalei, that I decided it was entirely necessary to keep up the festivities--and of course that meant . . . SHAVE ICE!!!! (I'm sort of an expert on shave ice.)

(That's Tim with the shave ice. I'm the one wearing the glasses, on account of the eyeball thing.)

Okay, then after the shave ice, it was time to get back to work! Um . . . looking at the sites and such . . .

That evening we headed to the Hyatt Grand Resort . . .

Before our speaking engagement, it was time to meet with the Girl Scouts. They were presented with Kanani dolls and books to donate to the Queen Lili'uokalani Children's Center.

However, the Girl Scouts weren't the only ones being present with something. Sue Kanoho, the Executive Director of the Kaua'i Visitors Bureau presented Peepy with an awesome basket of Hawaiian gifts for her contribution to Kaua'i and the the world . . .

We had lots of people, both locals and visitors, to the island, show up to hear Jennifer and Moi talk about the Kanani books, and what it's like being an author . . .

I was totally discombobulated to learn that I wouldn't be speaking alone. Squeeee . . . Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy, and Johnny Depp, joined me at the podium!!!

Afterward, the Kanani books were available for a donation to the Kaua'i Monk Seal Watch Program.

Before we called it a night, people who I named characters after in the books gathered around for this uber realistic water color-ish painting that Peepy did . . .

I slept REALLY well that night. Why? Because all this took place on DAY ONE (I know!) in Kaua'i.

Oh! Oh! I don't want to forget this, THE HUFFINGTON POST ran my complete essay about the woman who inspired me to be an author . . .

CLICK HERE to read the essay.

Stay tuned for more Kaua'i Adventures.

Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.

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