The diabolical mind behind One Boy, No Water

Hey everyone, today we have a guest blogger. I expect you to treat her with the same disrespect that you give me.  Say Aloha to Lehua Parker!  Oh say it, you know you want to...

Aloha, Jo Ann! Thanks for letting me drop by to answer a few of your questions about my MG/YA novel One Boy, No Water, book one in the Niuhi Shark Saga. It’s available from Barnes & Noble and Amazon in hardback, trade paperback, and ebook.

Let's start off with a few get to know you questions:
1-Toothpaste-gel or paste?

Pretty much whatever’s cheapest that promises no cavities and movie-star sparkle gets tossed into the cart. This cracker jack decision making process usually happens at midnight after discovering the tooth fairy has already flattened the current tube by running it through the pasta maker.

2-What was your first thought this morning? (If appropriate.  If not appropriate, please edit or make something up.)

Looks like the kids made the bus since no one banged on the door for a ride. I’m a night owl living four time zones away from where my body thinks it should. About three years ago the kids came to us and said, “We think we would all like it better if Dad helped us with breakfast in the morning and Mom slept in.” Seriously. And they’re right; we’re all happier.

3-Do you prefer the sunrise or the sunset?  Why?

Sunset because if I see the sunrise it usually means I’ve stayed up all night. Again.

4-If you could live anywhere in the world for a year, where would it by and why?

In a house right on the beach on Oahu, Hawaii, somewhere far off the beaten path with miles of pristine beach and reefs to SCUBA dive and no neighbors so I could run around in a swimsuit all day. Oahu because if I wanted to spend a day in busy Honolulu or Waikiki I could.

Enough of that, now onto the good stuff:
5-If you could have lunch with any character in literature, who would it be and where would you go?

Hermione from the Harry Potter series, and we’d go to The Three Broomsticks Inn in Hogsmeade. Over butterbeer she’d dish about JK Rowling and I’d tell her she could do so much better than Ron.

6-What keeps you writing after your characters have betrayed you and your plot has fallen to pieces?

Deadlines. Without them looming over me, it’s too easy to say, “Well, that’s terrible. Think I’ll go lie on the sofa and eat a piece of cake.”

7-When do you know that it's time to break up with your current work in progress?

About the time I hear the chocolate cake calling. Seriously, if I’m bored by it, no way it’s going to appeal to anyone else. But I usually say it’s not you it’s me; I’m just not ready to commit; I need to be free to write other stories. Maybe someday, when we’re both in a different place…

Specifically about One Boy No Water
9-How did One Boy No Water make it to the top of your "to write" pile?

In its current state as the first book in a five book series called the Nihui Shark Saga it didn’t make it to the top of the to do list until I sold the concept to Jolly Fish Press. This story and I had an on-again/off-again flirtation and a series of one night stands eight years ago. After a seven year split we reconnected, sought counseling, and worked out our many issues. I realized this story was really a MG/YA series in disguise and not the complicated braided novel for adults that first caught my eye. JFP gave me the deadline I needed to go all boot camp on the story and stomp it into its current shape.

9-In OBNW, the main character has a strong aversion/allergy to water. Do you have any allergies? If not, is there anything you wish you were allergic to?  Vegetables or perhaps manual labor?

My family would say I’m allergic to housework and laundry. Part of the reason I started writing novels was it sounded like a legitimate excuse for all the dishes in the sink. Now I’m hoping to earn enough to pay someone else to take care of it all.  However, I did recently discover I have a gluten allergy, which means no more chocolate cake on the sofa. Another reason I have time to write!

10-If the main character from OBNW could meet anyone (fictional or real) who would it be and why?

Without giving too much away, if Zader could meet his biological parents his life would change in ways he can’t imagine right now. He wasn’t abandoned, he was hidden. These are the big questions in the series: Who is Zader, why was he hidden, and what will he do when he and others discover the truth?

On a side note, Uncle Kahana would love to talk with his father again. As hinted in One Boy, No Water, Uncle Kahana’s relationship with his father wasn’t pono, a Hawaiian word that means being in balance or correct, and with his father’s death he hasn’t had an opportunity to fix it. That’s affected him and his decisions his entire life.

Char Siu would love to meet Psy of Gangnam Style fame, but that’s for book two!

Cool stuff about Lehua

Lehua Parker is originally from Hawaii and a graduate of The Kamehameha Schools and Brigham Young University. So far she has been a live television director, a school teacher, a courseware manager, an instructional designer, a sports coach, a theater critic, a SCUBA instructor, a poet, a web designer, a mother, and a wife. Her debut novel, One Boy, No Water is the first book in her MG/YA series the Niuhi Shark Saga. She currently lives in Utah with her husband, two children, two cats, two dogs, six horses, and assorted chickens. During the snowy Utah winters she dreams about the beach.

In case you wish to stalk Lehua

Facebook author page: www.facebook.com/LehuaParker

Blog: www.LehuaParker.com

Twitter: @LehuaParker

            Goodreads: Lehua Parker

Thanks for playing, Lehua!  Good writing.
Go check out the novel everyone.