How could I spend 10 days on Maui and still be so pale?

Actually, a better question might be, "Why would I travel to Maui with an HP printer, four packages of paper, a stapler, and eight #22 ink cartridges in my luggage?" It's called the Maui Writers Retreat & Conference. For nearly 15 years, I've been dreaming of coming here. This is the nation's premier writing conference, and OMG I'm finally here. You have to apply to get accepted to the retreat, and it took me all these years to get up the guts to do it. It's just wonderful. There are 3 "tracks", Non-fiction, Fiction, and Screenwriting. I'm in the Non-fiction track. I'm surrounded by all these talented writers and I get to hear details about their projects. It's like seeing a best-seller list come to life in front of my eyes. Some day, when they all make it to the bookstore shelves, I can say I knew them when. I have an amazing teacher named Sam Horn. Look her up on amazon.com and you'll see why I feel lucky to be in her class. Many of us have come here both to work on our proposals, and to pitch them to agents and publishers who are here. Normally, you might spend your whole life mailing your book proposal around and never ONCE get the chance to meet face-to-face with these luminaries. But here, we are all given this unprecedented access. We pay handsomely for the priviledge, but we also hope it pays off big. I have my meetings on Friday, and am pitching 2 different book projects. Stay tuned, and I'll let you know how it goes.

How do little kids get abducted in broad daylight in a public place?

I stopped off at a little park in my neighborhood today. When I got there and sat on a bench, I was the only one in the park. I sat there sipping my iced Starbucks and enjoying the birds and scenery, and after a few minutes, a woman's yelling caught my attention. I looked over in the direction of the yelling, but saw no woman. Instead I saw a little boy on his bike...all alone. Then I heard her yell again, "BRIAN!" The little boy was ignoring her and just pedalling slowly around the park. The woman kept screaming his name, "BRIAN!" I expected to see, any second now, the woman appear and be frantically running after him.
Nope.
Instead she just kept screaming his name. Now Brian had peddled over to the side street, which was heavily shaded. Just then a pickup truck pulled to the curb and crept closer to Brian before it stopped. "Uh oh", I thought. I was certain that Brian would promptly peddle in the opposite direction because even at a distance, the truck had a creepy feel to it, and it was obvious there was a lone man in the cab. But to my amazement, Brian PEDALLED UP TO THE TRUCK! See pic above. You can see Brian's little helmeted form in the yellow oval, and the truck in the violet oval. The woman kept yelling for Brian, and because she was so loud, the driver of that pickup would surely now know the little boy's name... as surely as I heard it from the other end of the park. I decided that if the man got out of the truck, I would intervene. "Maybe he knows the driver?" I thought. Nope.
The little boy now pedalled away, slowly, toward the main street (see pic above). Finally, I saw the woman make an appearance, but she stayed WAY over on the other side of the park (see pic above. She's in the green oval, barely noticable) I just couldn't believe what I was seeing. First I was worried about the potential pedophile, now I was worried he'd get run over.
"BRIAN!" she kept screaming. But not moving. Just screaming. Finally Brian started back toward the screamer. As he passed me, he noticed my camera phone, and hid his face behind his hand. I thought that was odd... I mean, he's worried about having his picture taken (granted, I was a stranger on a park bench), but he freely pedalled up to a strange pickup truck on a side street. Sigh. I'm glad Brian didn't get pulled in to that truck, but now I understand how that could happen to a child.