About the Author - Skip Thomsen was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and has had an avid interest in writing since childhood. He has written and successfully self-published several books over the last twelve years.
He has also written numerous magazine articles on various how-to topics, including some on relocating to Hawai'i. Reviews of his writing consistently commend him for his ability to make complex topics clear and easy to understand.
During 1988-89, he and his then-wife published an arts-and-entertainment guide called Elixir! for the North Oregon Coast area. A paper of 16-20 pages with a circulation of five-thousand copies, it included a variety of articles, fiction, art, photos and poetry concerning Oregon Coast issues. It was well received, got great reviews and supported itself from the start with enthusiastic local advertisement. It was put to sleep when Skip moved to Hawai'i in 1993.- Thomsen spent the better part of three years in Hawai'i in the early seventies and knew for certain that this is where he wanted to spend the rest of his life. Circumstances prompted his move back to the Mainland, but the dream of some day moving to Hawai'i never left him. In 1993, he visited the Islands on his way home from a trip to New Zealand, and for the first time discovered how inexpensive housing was on the Big Island. During that visit, he bought a home there and within a few months had moved to Hawai'i for good.
From the start, friends, visitors, tourists and acquaintances have been making comments like, "How can you afford to live in Hawai'i full time? Isn't it awfully expensive?" To their amazement, Skip and his wife, Camille would tell them that they live in the Islands for less than the cost of their modest former lifestyle on the Mainland. Of course, everyone wanted to know all the details. Some even recommended Skip write a book on the subject!- There continues to be such a conspicuous amount of interest in affordable living in Hawai'i that the natural next step was Affordable Paradise. The first printing sold out quickly and the new material included in the second printing was mostly in response to feedback from the enthusiastic readers of the original book. In addition, Thomsen felt the then-new Third Edition needed to cover some essential philosophical information that is in response to the changes happening to the Aloha State now that people are moving here in huge numbers.
- The newest Fourth Edition brought real estate values and other issues up to date for 2010/11, and those values remain essentially unchanged at this writing in 2014. The new edition also contains some new emphasis on living aloha!
- In 2013, There had been enough requests for an eBook edition that Thomsen did another thorough update of the entire book and published it in Kindle and Nook Editions.
- Thomsen's interests include Hawaiian culture and cultural events, stained-glass art, fine woodworking, restoring vintage houses, kayaking, music, playing in the ocean, and riding his Harley in the warm Hawaiian sun. Oh, and writing! He and his wife share their home in the hills of Hilo with their feline friends, 15-year-old Bill and a recent young adoptee, Kai.
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