Swimming Sideways (Cantos Chronicles) - Softcover

Stephen King wrote in On Writing: A Memoir of Craft that "We are writers, and we never ask one another where we get our ideas; we know we don't know."

Here's what I can tell you about the story you are about to read:

1. Abby (along with Seth and Gabe) have been legitimately talking to me for over ten years.
   
2. When I finally understood the story, I wrote them out of order. Seth's story (The Ugly Truth) was written first and I hated the ending. It wasn't until I wrote Abby's that I understood all of them.
   
3. Abby is part Hawaiian. That makes writing this story a bit more complicated.
   

Here's why: I am not Hawaiian. Abby will tell you about her white mom that "...she understands [Hawaii] from the lens of an apparition walking along the surface but never delving into the soil to plant roots." While I have lived in Hawaii for over twenty years, am married to a Native Hawaiian, have Native Hawaiian children and teach at a Native Hawaiian school, I will never be gifted with the unique beauty of Native Hawaiian ethnicity and perspective. I am a member of the race of colonizer and the usurper. This is very important. My daughter said, "Mom, it matters who tells Hawaiian stories because their stories have been stolen and washed of authentic Hawaiian perspective. It is Hawaiians who need to tell their stories."

Please know that my hope is never to appropriate a version of Hawaiian ethnicity to sell a story. When I look at my Native Hawaiian children, I wish there were stories for them. When I listen to my Native Hawaiian students, I wish I had contemporary stories with teen protagonists for them to study. I think it is only a matter of time as I watch strong, creative, and empowered Hawaiians venture into the world. I am looking forward to hearing and supporting those stories.

The cultural elements in Swimming Sideways have been gleaned from conversations with Native Hawaiians like my husband, my children, my friends, and my colleagues and lessons I've been given in Native Hawaiian Culture. I drew from the language, my limited understanding of Hawaiian Literature, and Hawaiian mythology to develop the way in which a character like Abby may have looked to her cultural roots to understand herself.  I have many people to thank for their support and help in trying to "get it right." Any mistakes are mine to own.

As a kid, CL Walters, world revolved around two things: stories and make believe. She's built a real life around those two things: a teacher of stories and a writer of make believe.

Walters attended a high school in a small town in Oregon and college in a smaller town in Oregon which gifted her with treasures to fill her creative reservoir and most importantly, afforded her the ability to meet her life's partner. They married, and Walters followed her husband from Oregon to Hawaii (it was that or forgo the marriage).

She has two children, and several furry kids. 

Walters says, "I read and write everyday."