Tory Hartman’s Journal

Waikiki has become Hong Kong. No kidding! There isn’t a square inch that doesn’t have a highrise or a construction project rimmed with a wooden fence and a crane sprouting out one side. I’m at the Embassy Suites, which is right behind the Outrigger Reef. My view, since the room was upgraded, is of the peek-a-boo nature… small glimpses between buildings of the blue sea, just enough to let me know there is a beach out there. The noise of the city and of the construction going on next door is enough to warm a New Yorker’s heart. Still, the location IS good and I’m happy to have two balconies, two rooms and an area with a coffee pot, microwave, miniature fridge, and sink. The streets are crowded with shoppers, but I can’t figure out what they’re shopping for… mostly they window shop and block traffic while slurping ice cream cones. Back at my suite, the breeze on the 10th floor is a welcome relief. I don’t think this urban Waikiki is what King Kamehameha had in mind when he surfed on this beach. More later.

I suppose I’m old fashioned, but blogging seems like a strange thing to do… like kissing the wind, your words go out into the cosmos and (maybe) land on someone’s screen. If they have, Hello to you,too.

As I write this, I’m preparing to go out to the Maui Writers Workshop which is not at Maui at all this year, but in Honolulu. This will be my seventh workshop. Yes, lucky seven. Sometimes I feel like a lemming… inserting myself practically yearly into an aluminum tube, flying 5 hours, risking colds and flu (okay, so I don’t like germs), hustling my computer, printer, and various other stuff that I’m sure I’ll need, but usually don’t–out to Maui to work for a week with an author. Over the years, I’ve studied with Craig Lesley (Winterkill; Skyfisherman), Terry Brooks (dozens of Shannara books–The Gypsy Morph; The Elves of Cintra), Elizabeth George (all the Inspector Linley books…With No One as Witness; Careless in Red), Michael Palmer (The First Patient; The Fifth Vial), Tess Gerritsen (The Apprentice; The Keepsake), and Gary Braver (Skin Deep; Flashback). This year I’ll be with Ann Hood (Somewhere off the Coast of Maine; The Knitting Circle).

For the conference, I’ll have my pitch ready for my novel Virgin on Ice, and for the workshop, a partial rough draft of my next book Mariachi Always Make Me Cry, which really needs to be retitled… would like something about warriors… I’m pondering it at night. That’s now I get to sleep!

So my suitcase is jammed… even taking my printer, Ipod, chargers up the ying-yang, and have downloaded work from five of my classmates to get a jump on the workshop work load. Looking forward to seeing old friends and making some new ones. I’ll try to blog from the Workshop and Conference, but hey — no promises!

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