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Behind the Book

Author’s Introduction for Under a Maui Moon


At my first writer’s conference over twenty-five years ago I was given this advice:

Write about what you know.

Since my husband and I were involved in youth ministry at the time I knew a bit about teens and began writing the still-popular Christy Miller series. Over the years I’ve come to know what a gift it is to have close friendships and so I wrote about love and friendships in the Glenbrooke series and the Sisterchicks® series.

Then three summers ago my husband and I were on the island of Maui celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary and I asked God, “What should I write about for the next 25 years?”  The answer floated to me on the gentle trade wind.

Write about what you love.

Ahhh.  Yes. Write about what I love. At the top of my “What I Love” list are the Hawaiian Islands. Our honeymoon was on Oahu and our family lived on Maui for a year in the 1990’s. Even though we’ve called Portland, Oregon our home for many years, and love it here, our family returns to the Islands every chance we get. Our aloha a’ina (love of the land) grows with each visit.

While we were living on Maui I picked up a Hawaiian history book in the reference section of the Lahaina library. Never would I have guessed how that book would ignite a passion in me for the people and places of Old Hawai’i. I joined the Calabash Cousins of the Daughters of Hawai’i and began making trips to the Mission Houses Museum in Honolulu in order to research original documents held in the archives.

What fascinates me the most is that everything the women on the islands felt and struggled with 150 years ago are still common issues for women today. In my research of Ka’ahumanu I found her to be a woman of great strength who used her influence and power to change the course of a nation. I love seeing women who get their strength back after a rough season. I call it “getting their heart back.”  I can relate. I’ve been though such seasons. I’m guessing you have, too. 

As I was writing Under a Maui Moon I felt so sympathetic towards Carissa.  Everything came at her at once and she could have made some decisions that would have changed the course of her life. But, as in real life, God had His hand on her. He was relentless in His pursuit of her and I think once she caught a glimpse of how Ka’ahumanu “made herself strong”, Carissa began to get her heart back.

If this story could come wrapped in a pule (prayer) for each of you readers, my prayer would be that you would make yourself strong and that you would get your heart back.

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