THE MYSTERY OF "PAYING IT FORWARD"

 

There should be no mystery in the concept of “Paying It Forward”! 

When someone gives us a leg-up, helping us in our writing careers, it only makes sense to pay forward the favor or compliment. As favors come full-circle, everyone benefits with plenty of satisfaction and success for everyone. 

           

The Makiki Community Library in Honolulu generously allows our Sisters in Crime/Hawaii group to hold monthly meetings at the library. As a way to show support for the library’s generosity, many of the SinC/HI members are also members of the library and donate their published books to the library for the public to enjoy. 

Sisters in Crime, Inc., the national organization, "Pays It Forward" with its “We Love Libraries” contest. They present winning libraries around the country with grants to purchase books for their library. With encouragement from SinC/Hawaii, Makiki Library entered the contest and became a lucky winner, a satisfying example of how “Paying It Forward” came full circle.
 

           

"Paying It Forward" can be as easy as offering a heartfelt “mahalo” or “thank you” to someone who offers advice or a compliment. Recently, I received all the chocolate candy I could eat in two hours (during a Sisters in Crime/Hawaii meeting!) after performing the simple task of showing interest in a fellow writer’s WIP.

             

Hawai'i-based Mystery Author Toby Neal recently demonstrated “Paying It Forward” when Amazon contacted her about participating in their new program. As the author of the Lei Crime series, she is one of only a select group of authors asked to launch a Kindle World. https://kindleworlds.amazon.com/ 

To Pay-It-Forward, Toby invited some of her author friends to share in the world of Hawaiian Islands Detective Lei Texeira by contributing stories for publication to her Lei Crime Series Kindle World. Not everyone was prepared to accept her generous offer at this time, but it was a privilege to be asked and to know the offer still stands. 

Toby describes Kindle Worlds on her web page as: “a wonderful new place on the Amazon site where any writer can develop stories within an established World of known characters.” You can visit Toby at her web site here: http://tobyneal.net/

             

I will be posting “Pay It Forward” stories here on the first and third Monday of each month beginning in September. If you want to share one of your own stories, please contact me at my email address. 

           

 

KICK-STARTING A NEW NOVEL

For the past six months, I wavered on which direction to take for my next writing project. 

Then I signed up for a five-day writers’ seminar in Honolulu, which took place on July 19-23, 2014 at The Makiki Community Library. The seminar guru/sensei, William Bernhardt, is the bestselling author of numerous books, including the Ben Kincaid legal-thriller series. His Red Sneakers Writers Book Series, five compact books in print and ebook format, go hand-in-hand with his seminars. 

Once I committed to attending a seminar for five days, I had to write a novel to present to the group for feedback and critique. I made the decision to continue my Pepper Bibeau mystery series with a fourth novel. I purchased Mr. Bernhardt’s Red Sneaker ebook series for kindle, and read each of the five books. Then I used the information from the first one, Story Structure: The Key to Successful Fiction, to outline my manuscript. 

See book link
to Amazon below

The five weeks preceding the seminar included writing, researching, writing, eating, writing, and sleeping. It was my very own, intense NaNoWriMo - all day - every day! My finished first draft contained 68K words, and was ready for critique. During the five-day seminar, I received suggestions, ideas, and direction from Mr. Bernhardt and the other seminar-ians (not theologists!) on ways to improve the content. 

Moving forward, I will use the information from the other books in the series as a road map to complete and edit the novel. 

Are you planning to start/continue/finish your novel this year? What is your process?

 

 

Link to William Bernhardt's Amazon Author Page:

http://www.amazon.com/William-Bernhardt/e/B000APOS7G/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1

 

Link to Story Structure by William Bernhardt

http://www.amazon.com/Story-Structure-Successful-Fiction-Sneaker-ebook/dp/B00CIDH2JE/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1406334352&sr=1-1&keywords=Story+Structure+William+Bernhardt

 

 

Sisters in Crime Interview with Wendy Maxwell

Wendy Maxwell
at the Circulation Desk of
The Makiki Community Library

Sisters in Crime/Hawaii Chapter meets on the third Wednesday of each month at Makiki Library on Keeaumoku Street in Honolulu, Hawaii. Wendy Maxwell, a member of Sisters in Crime Hawaii, is the Makiki Library Librarian.

GAIL: Wendy, thank you for appearing in the spotlight today for a SinC/Hawaii interview. You are currently working for The Makiki Community Library. What experience or education led you to a position as a librarian?

WENDY: I have a masters degree from UH Manoa in Library and Information Science LISc. The "information" portion consists mainly of using the internet for research purposes.

GAIL: Have you worked for a library system other than Makiki Library?

WENDY: After graduation, I worked for a semester at Kamehameha Middle School Library and at Iolani Upper School Library. Then I landed a job with Mid-Pacific Institute. I was there for 4 years while my youngest son was a student there. I continue to return to MPI when they need extra help and for their annual Scholastic Book Fair. My work with MCL is entirely in a voluntary capacity. I am currently President of the Friends of Makiki Community Library and the Librarian.

The Makiki Community Library

GAIL: Have you assisted other libraries outside of Hawaii with setting up their programs?

WENDY: In 1999, I set up the library skills program at the College of the Marshall Islands. I taught everything from alphabetizing the English language so that the students could use the reference materials, to how to evaluate websites. I have given workshops at a library conference on Palau; I was hired to upgrade the school libraries in American Samoa and spent 3 weeks there.

GAIL: What improvements are you implementing at The Makiki Community Library and how are these changes funded?

WENDY: MCL was closed for renovation for about 4 years. During that time I got involved. With the addition of larger windows, the library is brighter. We have acquired new furniture from Booksellers, when that book store closed downtown a few years ago; the electrical has been completely upgraded and 4 new ceiling fans have been installed. We recently received a large donation to automate our library. With those funds we were able to purchase 5 Apple computers; library software; barcodes and scanners. We are currently working on data input for all of the books/media in the library. We hope to "launch" the new system on August 1st.

Wendy (right) with library co-workers

GAIL: During a Sisters in Crime, Inc. sponsored event “LIBRARIANS SOLVE MYSTERIES EVERY DAY”, I was able to “Shadow the Librarian” at MCL, and I learned how to scan those bar codes to enter newly acquired books into the system! Wendy, aside from work related programs, do you ever have an opportunity to travel?

WENDY: My husband, who is slowly working less with an eye on retirement, and I have become cruisers. In the Fall of 2011 we took a 6-week cruise from New York City, through the Panama Canal and around South America to end in Rio. This was our longest and 6th cruise. We are planning a 3-week cruise in May of 2012, from Tokyo to Vancouver, CA via the Aleutian Islands and the inside passage of Alaska.

Thank you, Wendy, for giving us some insight into the life of a librarian, far more interesting than one might imagine. Enjoy your latest cruise!

Red Hibiscus along Keeaumoku

Book Sale at The Makiki Community Library Honolulu

When I first moved to Hawaii in 1992, my timing coincided with the devastation of Hurricane Iniki. It was humbling to watch as locals, kama’aina, and malihini joined forces to demonstrate Hawaiian resiliency. For the first six months, I stayed at the Fernhurst YWCA on Wilder Ave. in Makiki. Whenever I had a few spare minutes, I roamed the area looking for interesting buildings and sights. I discovered an interesting library next to the Makiki District Park, The Makiki Community Library (MCL) and fell in love with its quaint atmosphere. 

Though the MCL is housed within a City and County parks building, it is not a city operation (nor is there any affiliation with the State Library System.) It is managed by the Friends of Makiki Community Library and functions as an independent non-profit group within the building.

Inside The Makiki Community Library

MCL accepts donations of books in good condition and holds fundraisers to cover some of the expenses for keeping the library open to the community as a recreational reading room and lending library. The mission of this library is to provide quality materials and programs that fulfill educational, informational, cultural, and recreational needs of the Makiki community. 

The Makiki Community Library
in background of Park

The Friends of Makiki Community Library

will hold a

Used Book Sale

on

Saturday and Sunday,

February 11 and 12,

from Noon to 4 p.m.

Along with finding some great books for a terrific price,

you can help support your local library.

The Makiki Community Library is located in Makiki District Park at1527 Ke’eaumoku Street, just mauka of Lunalilo Freeway. There is a parking lot off Ke’eaumoku Street about half a block makai of Wilder Ave. Another smaller lot can be accessed from Makiki Street, just makai of the garden plots. Signs on Ke’eaumoku Street and Wilder Ave. list times that street parking is allowed.

Makaki Public Garden Plots

If you want to supplement your books-in-print collection at a price that you might expect to pay for an eBook through the Internet, stop in at The Makiki Community Library on Saturday and Sunday, February 11 and 12. If you see me there, be sure to say ALOHA!

Poinsettia at Makiki public gardens