I just got back from the Kauai Writers Conference in Lihue. I have been to the Big Island, but I was a Kauai newbie.
I had a great conference. I went with two other writers, Linda Brugger, a political columnist, and JL Oakley, an historical fiction novelist. We arrived at the beginning, when everyone was taking master classes. I would have loved to have participated in those, but it wasn’t in the budget this year. Instead, we had lunch with the attendees and did some networking. In the mornings we wrote in the open air cafe looking out over the resort pool and the ocean. The resort grounds were gorgeous, and I took tons of photos of the tropical beauty.
In the afternoons, we explored Kauai. We saw the storied cave of Puff the Magic Dragon near Hanalei. I had no idea that the song referred to a real place. We visited the Kaua’i Coffee Company, the Koloa Rum Company, the Kilauea Lighthouse, and Waimea Falls. Of course we sampled rum and coffee! The conference featured a luau one evening, and a panel of authors describing their writing journeys.
Once the full conference started, we enjoyed three days of panels and presentations on writing craft and marketing. Several of these were inspiring and useful. I particularly enjoyed Tim Seibles and Rachel Eliza Griffiths speaking about bringing poetry to your prose, Joshua Mohr’s workshop on the intersection of character and plot, Steven Rowley’s dissection of humor, Danielle Trussoni and Patti Callahan Henry’s deep dive into finding your own writing process, Lisa Sharkey’s wisdom on social media, and Desireé Duffy’s marketing talk. There were also opportunities for agent pitches and publishing consultations from experts, and I did chat with one agent about The Appearance of Power.
After the conference closed, we spent a couple of days in Oahu, checking out the Mission Houses, the Pearl Harbor Memorial, the Punchbowl, Diamondhead, Waikiki, the Legislature and the palace. Most of the time the trade winds were blowing, keeping the heat and humidity down a notch. Sadly, in the last couple of days, one of my traveling companions came down with COVID, and I am currently waiting to find out if my minor sore throat and congestion evolve into a bout, or if I will fight it off. One small downside to an otherwise fantastic trip.
There was one other upside, though. When I travel, I usually double or triple my pages read. That was true for this trip, and I finished 8 books, even though one of them was a historical nonfiction behemoth. I’ll review a couple of these in upcoming days, so stay tuned!
Thanks for reading.
