Prince Kuhio Day with Lynn Michaels

Hawaii is the only US state with two royal holidays.  Today Hawaii celebrates one - Prince Kuhio Day.  From Aloha Hawaii,

Born on March 26, 1871 Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole was prince of the reigning House of Kalakaua when the Kingdom of Hawaii was overthrown in 1893.

(Kuhio attempted to restore the monarchy and was imprisoned.  Upon his release, he traveled to Europe and Africa.  He returned to Hawaii when it became a US territory). 

Kuhio was often called Ke Ali'i Makaainana (Prince of People), and is well known for his efforts to preserve and strengthen the Hawaiian people. While a delegate of Congress, he spearheaded the effort in the passage of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act that provides lands for native Hawaiians to homestead. Prince Kuhio was also known for restoring the Royal Order of Kamehameha I and establishing the Hawaiian Civic Club.

Prince Kuhio served in congress from 1903 till his death in 1922. His body was laid to rest with the rest of his royal family at the Royal Mausoleum in Nuuanu on Oahu.

We can only imagine how Prince Kuhio "saw" Hawaii when he came home from exile.   Likewise, I am always curious how visitors see Hawaii.  Earlier in the month I was searching for pictures of when RWA hosted its national convention in Hawaii.   One just popped off the screen with Lynn Michaels and Linda Wisdom.  I invited both of them to be my guest ... and today's guest is  Lynn Michaels (Linda visits us on April 20).   From Lynn's bio,

My first published novel, Like A Lover, won the New Romantic Suspense Author award from Romantic Times magazine. The trophy looks like I won a bowling tournament and is one of my most cherished possessions. On the plaque suspense is spelled
s-u-s-p-e-n-c-e. You've got to love a misspelled writing award.

Original covers (above)
Reissue covers (below)

Misspellings haunt me. On the cover of The Patriot, my second book for Harlequin Temptation, Lynn is spelled Lynne. This is the one and only book Lynne Michaels ever wrote. I write as Lynn Michaels for my husband Michael. He warned me never to dedicate a book to him so I stole his name instead.

Kim:  Where do you keep your trophies, misspellings and all? Did you frame and/or bronze the Lynne Michaels book?

Lynn:  LOL, Kim! No, I didn’t bronze the Lynne Michaels book, but I did laminate the card that came with the flowers Temptation sent me to apologize for the goof with my pseudonym.

My bowling trophy from Romantic Times for Best New Romantic Suspense Author (the first writing award I won, btw, so of course it’s misspelled!) sits on top of the bookcases in my office. My second RT award for Best Contemporary Romance for MOTHER OF THE BRIDE (a smaller and very tasteful plaque, spelled correctly!) sits on top of the hutch over my desk with my three framed RITA finalist certificates.

I keep my awards where I can to see them. On days when I don’t think I can write my way out of a sentence they remind me that yes, I can -- I’ve done it before and I can do it again.

I started writing in sixth grade when my class formed a writers club. At the end of the year the other kids quit, but I kept at it. By the time our sons Chris and Paul were in elementary school I had boxes full of stories. "If you don't do something with all this stuff," Michael told me, “I'm going to make wallpaper out of it.”

Kim:  Do you have any material from your sixth grade writing club?

Lynn:  No, darn it. I wish I did. Every story had a girl and a boy and a horse in it somewhere. I have a few things that I wrote in college. A comic scene I wrote for a creative writing class became part of Remembrance, my first book for Temptation. My classmates laughed, which was good. The professor said the scene might make “A nice little romance novel.” I had no clue what a romance novel was then.

Teapot thimbles on Ebay

Otherwise my life is pretty much like yours. I grocery shop, I pump my own gas; I clean my own house and do the laundry. I'm a fiend for coupons. I collect teapots, thimbles, hand-made bookmarks and misspelled writing awards.

Kim:  What started your collection of teapots and thimbles? What are your favorite of each?

Lynn:  My mother’s family is Scotch-English so I come from a long line of tea drinkers. I drink tea (hot, not iced) all day, every day. My great aunt Agnes, born in Glasgow, Scotland, taught me how to brew a proper pot of tea. I was maybe six years old. Sugar is optional, but Auntie instructed me to always drink tea with milk, because “Only heathens drink tea without milk.” My favorite teapot is white bone china with gold trim, painted with pink roses and pale blue flowers. It has matching cups. My dad bought the set for me in England and brought it home in his suitcase, wrapped in his clean underwear.

My grandmother, my dad’s mother was also named Agnes. She sewed, crocheted, knitted and quilted all her life. My Aunt Jane gave me one of Grandma’s thimbles when she died. It’s still in my sewing box. I started collecting when I started traveling to conferences. A thimble is a small, pretty thing to bring home as a remembrance. Thimbles don’t photograph well; I tried and gave up! My favorite is a white porcelain thimble trimmed in red and gold with a cardinal in the middle.

Kim:  According to Linda, you both climbed to the top of Diamond Head (the iconic mount overlooking Waikiki Beach).   Linda noted that you made it by naming designer shoes as you climbed each step - this is why I invited you to SOS Aloha!  Can you share another special moment about RWA in Hawaii?

Lynn:  The thing I loved most about Hawaii, and probably every tourist does, is the Pacific Ocean. Everywhere I looked there was the ocean -- and a beach! I couldn’t get enough. At the Harlequin party I slipped outside onto the terrace, took my shoes off and just sat there in the torch-lit dark listening to the surf roll up the beach. Four other authors came out and joined me. One of them recognized my name on my conference badge and connected it to NIGHTWING, my vampire novel that Temptation had just published. She’d read the book and loved it. So much that she told the other ladies that it was great and that they must read it, which was really sweet of her. Then she stared telling them the plot -- only she told them the plot of Love Bites, another vampire story, and a darn good one written by Maggie Osborne. I thought it was really funny, but I didn’t laugh. I just smiled and thought, “Well, at least she got my name right.”

At the top!

Kim:  What’s next for Lynn Michaels?

Lynn:  I’ve been on hiatus since 2007, when Rheumatoid Arthritis hit my husband Michael like a brick between the eyes. He was so ill I didn’t give a damn about writing. He’s fine now, thank God. I’m getting back in the swing of things by publishing the backlist titles that I hold the rights to on Kindle and Nook. It’s really fun to give these books a second life.

Last Thanksgiving an idea for a Christmas novella about a cat hit me. I managed to get it written and up on Amazon by December 20th. I had a blast writing The Cat Before Christmas. A New York publisher wouldn’t have touched it, I don’t think, because the cat, Wiki, a Siamese, has a point of view, but it was so much fun to write!

I’m working on another Christmas novella for this year, which may or may not have a cat, and a Regency. I love Regency romances! I wrote two for Fawcett as Jane Lynson, CAPTAIN RAKEHELL and THE DUKE'S DOWNFALL. (These are available on Kindle by Lynn Michaels.) This story is about Teddy Earnshaw, the youngest brother of Leslie in Captain Rakehell and Charles in The Duke’s Downfall. Teddy was a schoolboy in the first two books. He’s grown up in this one, and he’s still a hell-raiser. I’m typing as fast as I can to keep up with him and having a ball. If I’m having fun, I figure my readers will, too.

Thanks for having me, Kim. It’s been a delight. Go kiss the beach for me, would you?

Kim: And that's the reason I invited you today on Prince Kuhio Day - you make the best of what has been given to you, misspellings and all!  Mahalo, Lynn, for visiting us at SOS Aloha! In honor of Prince Kuhio Day and Lynn's monumental march up to Diamond Head, I am giving away a Hawaiian gift pack, including a tote bag, luggage tag, pineapple candy dish, and a bag of dried coconut. To enter the giveaway,

1. Leave a comment about how you would motivate yourself and/or friend to march up Diamond Head.  I haven't done it yet but I hear it is a challenge!

2. This giveaway is open to US residents only (international readers can request book marks and trading cards - see below). Comments are open through Saturday, April 2, 10 pm in Hawaii, to enter the giveaway. The winner will be announced on Sunday, April 3, during the Weekly Winners announcement post. I also contact the winner if I have winner's email address.

3. If you are new to SOS Aloha, please make sure I know how to contact you. If your Blogger profile does not provide your email address, please send it to sos.aloha@yahoo.com. (I have several unclaimed prizes because I do know how to contact the winner).

Mahalo,

Kim in Hawaii

Today is a double header - make sure you check out the spotlight on Renee Bernard, one of the sponsors for the SOS Military Mixer at the RT Booklovers' Convention.