Web Launch!
Welcome friends, family, and strangers to the launch of my new website!
As with all my projects, my husband had nothing to do with this!! I’m lying, he’s the powerhouse to this operation. He’s the one who found and downloaded computer programs, and then taught me how to use them so that I could design all the cover art for my books by myself. He’s the one who helped my vision for this web page come to life, though I filled in all the content. He made all of this look exactly the way in which I imagined it would and I’m still in awe of it. He makes my life so much easier and he’s also the one who pushed me into this in the first place! He’s kind of my hero.
Hello! My name is Liv and for my first blog post ever, I thought I’d start off by explaining why this website exists, and why it was important for me to “go public” with my family and friends after THREE YEARS of anonymity. That’s crazy, right? (The acquaintances are freaking out right now, like whaaat?) That’s right. You thought you knew everything important there was to know about me. I’ve got news for you…I don’t even know me. **Sidebar: I do believe this is also how serial killers keep their identities concealed. Scary stuff, but I swear I’m harmless and free of all crime, and if you don’t believe me, you’ll be relieved to learn that the Department of Homeland Security has cleared me as a, “non-threat” earlier this year and have my prints on file (but that’s a different story for another time).** I will also give you a brief rundown of what you’ll find here.
The idea for this page came about thanks to your January resolutions. I don’t usually participate, but I decided to play the game this year. The only goal I set for myself was posted on my personal facebook page for my friends and family to see (not that they asked). I went ahead and scoured through three months’ worth of comedic gold (it’s literally just an array of memes) on my timeline so that I could copy and paste it here, to remind those of you that saw my update from 01/01/2020, because I know for a fact none of you committed that super annoyingly vague post to memory.
“2020 I’ve decided to be more real. Details coming soon!”
I needed a website to market my books, so I expanded upon that idea with bigger ideas, but I didn’t have the full picture yet. I wasn’t ready to share the idea of a blog at the time because I wasn’t sure I would be able to follow through in a way that made sense, so I kept it to myself in case I crashed and burned on the blog endeavor. Those ideas did eventually congeal into this awesome piece of fantastic that you’re visiting right now. So, this is me actually following through with something!! (Take that, Mom! I CAN finish things!)
Anyway…since everybody is isolated in their homes and will literally read anything put in front of them on social media, I thought why not get in on the ground floor? I can totally use this. This website exists because this platform gives me the ability to be transparent about who I am and what I do behind closed doors. Even my personal social media pages are fake to an extent so this, right here, is the real deal. Hi. This is me. I’m not doing this to prove anything to anyone, I’m doing this because I have many ways in which I express myself, and this website puts it all in one place. It’s like the shoe box of special things you keep hidden under the bed, except mine is open for everyone to see. Friends and family who know me personally, I only ask that you keep my real name separate from my pen name. There’s still a degree of anonymity I need to maintain for safety sake. You might not think it’s a big deal, but it is. I’ve had my pen name linked to Facebook messenger for a few hours and the amount of creeps that called from all over the world that night, literally crashed my phone. It was scary. This is a safety issue. That being said, you might read things that you don’t always like and you might find that the idea you had about me doesn’t fit into the lovely box you made for me and that’s okay. We’ll grow together, and if you don’t like it, you can talk about me behind my back like, you and I both know, you already do. Fact check me by all means, but please save your judgment and criticisms for your friends because I’m sure I’ve already heard it all from my mother at some point. She beat you to it. Her superpower is honesty. (She’s actually really great and I love her, and my dad for that matter. They’re the best. I literally talk to them every day of my life.)
Why the anonymity? This has been such a big deal to me. My commitment to anonymity has lasted longer than some of your marriages, so why now? Besides the inevitable gossip and speculations from people around me, I mostly wanted to keep this quiet to see how far I could go without any connections to people I know. I wanted to see how far I could go on my talent alone and I accomplished more than I ever thought I would. I’ve sold books in four different countries, signed autographs at an authors event (mostly children, bless their hearts), and was invited to participate in an interview, thanks to Nicholas Adams. For real though, it’s legit. You can google my name and it’ll all pop right up (ahhh, so cool!!). As an independent author, I’ve checked off all the personal goal boxes without the use of my actual name attached to any of it and I’m proud of that.
Besides my grandparents and my editor, I didn’t tell anybody I had written anything at all, until long after I had already published it. In fact, over a two-year span I told, probably, less than ten people directly about my books and it’s really funny how much the word spread without my consent. First of all, thank you to those who respected me enough to keep this secret to yourself and an even bigger shout out to the ones who promoted it without spilling the beans!! You know who you are and I can’t express what that meant, what it still means, to me. Truly, you’re amazing (Steven)!!
The reason why I kept it to myself for so long, even after I accomplished my personal goals, is because of the people who didn’t respect me enough to keep my name disconnected from it and then used me as a token in their gossip. I don’t like liars and I don’t like being used. (Yes, I understand the irony in hating liars.) I was, and still am, terrified of that happening on a larger scale. My biggest pet peeve through this whole process, though, has been the psychoanalytic stories readers have made up to attempt to make some kind of sense as to why I wrote some of these scenes. I had people actually try to explain to me, the creator, why I wrote these books. Let me just clear one thing up for you right now; all of the speculation in the world will never come close to the real motive behind these characters or story lines, so don’t try to tell me how it is. I will gladly answer any and all questions you might have. JUST ASK ME ABOUT IT DIRECTLY–Not my husband, not my relatives, but me. Literally, no one to this day has bothered to ask me why I wrote these books. Like, seriously, you’re going to plan this elaborate story without bothering to ask me about my own past? Crazy…Maybe some of you should be writers with your conspiracy theories. In fact, there’s no need to fill in any gaps at all. Just enjoy the story.
This whole experience has led me down a very eye-opening journey about myself and the people around me. I’ve learned so much from this adventure and it’s been, overall, mostly positive even when it seemed negative. At this point, it’s hard for me to keep this joy to myself. I’m writing just for fun these days without the need to “get it out,” and I feel like it’s time to just be upfront about all of it with everyone on my own terms. As I mentioned before, this website puts every piece of me into one place and it’s wide open for your greedy eyes. The goal has always been to reach that one person, so I’m not offended if you’re not that person. It’s never been about the numbers.
To give you a rundown of this website, on the Homepage, you’ll find where to view the newest updates and you’ll also find links to my twitter and amazon pages. Twitter is a really great place where I get to connect with other writers and share tiny tidbits of works in progress through some fun hashtag games. Lately I haven’t been participating much, but have been throwing snippets out there anyway, so if you want a little taste of what I’m working on, be sure to check that out, like stuff, retweet stuff, and follow me! Amazon is where you’ll be able to preview the first few pages of each book, read reviews, and make purchases if you like what you see. Both of my books are available on kindle and paperback. Note that when you buy paperback, you’ll get the digital copy for free, so you can get a jump-start on reading before the hard copy arrives on your doorstep. If you do read either of my books, definitely leave a review directly on amazon, and if you’re a really nice person, on goodreads as well.
In the Books section, you will see the cover beside the synopsis of each book, along with one line I pulled from each book, but you can’t purchase from this site. It’s a way to see what I have available and what they’re all about without needing to look them up on amazon. Links will be provided here and here as well as in the Books section if a purchase is what you desire, and what the hell, I’ll even shamelessly encourage it! Buy my books because you’ll love them! And even if you don’t, the pages will provide excellent kindling to start a fire to keep you warm, burn evidence, burn some yard clippings… There’s no downside! In fact, all proceeds go toward our adoption. Not only will you buy really great books, you’ll help bring our family together. Go you!
About Me is pretty straightforward. It’s a space that’s all about me and not a bit narcissistic at all…ahem…
Photography is broken down into three different sections. To be clear, I’m not a “photographer.” I just want to share the way in which I see the world. Breaking it down into three sections makes it a little easier to organize the way in which these are displayed. There’s Wanderlust (Earth is home to everybody so we can all appreciate her beauty. These are the places I’ve traveled to and the reason why I keep wandering.) Art Appreciation: Mine and Theirs (writing isn’t the only medium through which I express myself; I do other stuff, too, but only for myself. I don’t sell or replicate these pieces, but to me they’re worth sharing. Maybe I’m the only one who thinks so LOL. I like to showcase some of my favorite pieces from other artists I see along the way, who inspire me, too), Liv; Through the Looking Glass (Can we take a moment to appreciate that play on words? This section displays moments from daily life that I draw inspiration from. Maybe they can inspire others, too).
Blog is where you’ll get to read whatever I have to say. I know, it sounds dreadful. In reality, it’ll be a place where I’ll get to answer some of your questions, share some thoughts, and who knows, maybe I’ll even get to feature some other incredible artists there, too! The Blog section will be fueled by you guys. How?
Contact Me is the place where you’ll send me all of your emails telling me how awesome I am, questions you might have, blog suggestions, rude comments because you don’t obey rules, and also nudges for other artists that inspire you! Recommend people for me to feature and I’ll either A. Do the research and introduce you to somebody awesome on my next blog entry. B. Ask for a direct interview and maybe they’ll even respond for themselves. I mean, I published two books, so anything is possible. Or, C. Ignore your suggestion for a variety of possible reasons, but it can’t hurt to throw ideas out there. The bottom line is, I didn’t get to this place in my career totally and completely on my own. I had a lot of help from other writers who supported me, encouraged me up, and shared my stuff. I want to pay it forward and do the same thing for others who are trying to make it on their own.
I think that pretty much covers it!
Goodbye.