Praying for the people of Hong Kong. I’ll never forget the kindness of so many when I returned in 2023, my first visit to the place of my birth since leaving as a small child.

This Thanksgiving, I’m grateful for • Friends I’ve made here and at @sewaneewriters.bsky.social and @awpwriter.org Conference • Publishing in the NYT, HuffPost and the Los Angeles Times this year • Making a lot of progress on my memoir Wishing you and yours a safe and lovely holiday week. 🥰🥰

A terrific episode with the author of Tuesdays with Morrie and many other bestsellers. podcasts.apple.com/eg/podcast/m....

After hours of doing revisions yesterday, went into a rabbit hole of the Olivia Nuzzi and RyanLizza blowup. Kept typing Nuzzo and Luzzi in my searches. Let's just call the kerfuffle #DoubleZgate. #olivianuzzi #ryanlizza

Thank you Writing Workshops and @courtneykocak.bsky.social for the Edit and Elevate: Revision Intensive. So many great tips, like put your reader hat on, from your revision checklist. Can’t wait to read your memoir, Girl Gone Wild.

Honored to serve as the moderator of a workshop, “Understanding Neurodiversity: Why Does It Matter.” Our speaker spoke about autism and ADHD. As someone with ADHD, the program helped me understand myself and others better.

Excited to attend the AAJA Rosemead screening with Lucy Liu, @frankshyong.bsky.social @josiehuang.bsky.social. Shame & stigma kept my mother from seeking help and delayed my treatment too. I’ve published pieces in national outlets to raise awareness of how AAPI mental health stigma hurts so many.

Two of my kids have birthdays this week. I’m so grateful for the kind, hardworking young people they've become. An arc of my memoir traces how a physically and emotionally abandoned child grew up determined to become a better mother than the ones she had.

Honored that my HuffPost essay about the domestic violence behind a model minority facade was included in @saribotton.bsky.social's Memoir Mondays, “a weekly curation of the best personal essays from around the web.” www.huffpost.com/entry/immigr...

Thrilled that my second @nytimes Tiny Love Stories published during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Why I Kept My Breast Cancer Secret for 28 Years. Breast Cancer Awareness Month is coming to a close. Women of color get mammograms at lower rates than others. Please share this with someone you love. yvonneliuwriter.substack.com/p/why-i-kept...

If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, please reach out to them. I wish people had reached out to my mother and me. www.huffpost.com/entry/kriste...

What the heck! Joking about domestic violence wasn't a one-off!!! Page Six. For women like me, it's not funny! www.huffpost.com/entry/kriste... @huffpost.com

Actor Kristen Bell thought she was making a joke. As a childhood domestic violence survivor and witness, it’s no laughing matter. This essay was hard to write, but if I can encourage ONE woman to leave an abuser, then I'm glad I broke my silence. www.huffpost.com/entry/kriste...

@karissachen.bsky.social's powerful novel Homeseeking spoke to so many. Loved hosting and helping to organize the Asian American book club gathering with novelist @rosakwoneaston. Thank you, Karissa, for your beautiful story about the immigrant experience and Chinese and Taiwanese history.

Delighted that a shorter version of my Diane Keaton essay was a Los Angeles Times letter to the editor open.substack.com/pub/yvonneli...

I so miss my maternal grandmother, Mee Ma, and pray she’s in a better place now. It broke my heart to cut the pages I’d written about her because they no longer served the story. Still, she lives in my heart.

When I watched Something’s Gotta Give, I dreamed of becoming a writer/creative like Diane Keaton’s character. From Annie Hall to Baby Boom to Morning Glory, she embodied women’s growing empowerment, changing roles, and independence. R.I.P. #DianeKeaton.

Delighted to receive these handmade works of art from @bethkephart.bsky.social sky.social. Every piece feels personal and full of meaning. Love the message: "You are not alone."

open.substack.com/pub/narrativ... Thank you @narrativelyacademy.bsky.social for your support, great classes, and for fostering such a generous community!

Fifty-six hours working on my memoir in September. Not as much as I hoped, but progress. Bird by bird. Word by word.

So special to meet Laura Cathcart Robins, author of Stash, virtually. “I didn’t have any secrets by the time I wrote this book.” Yes, we’re long past the fear of writing our memoirs. Grateful to @lisanapoli @jillconnection for a terrific program.

Excited for the Devil Wears Prada sequel! My two daughters and I rewatched the original every winter holiday break. I've read @voguemagazine.bsky.social for years. As someone who writes culture essays, I enjoy reading the articles and decoding what the ads reveal about society and trends.

"You figure out what you want to write by writing," @cduhigg.bsky.social. The Power of Habit transformed my writing process. So many great tips about writing and publishing at the Authors Insider The Next Big Idea AMA

As Hong Kong rebuilds after Typhoon Ragasa, I’m thinking and praying for the place where my story began—and for the tour guides, librarians, and fellow adoptees who helped me find pieces of it on my visit. 🌏💔

Thank you so much. So appreciate great StoryStudio classes and my StoryStudio Chicago Memoir-in-a-Year and Long Haul cohorts!

R.I.P. Robert Redford. All the President's Men lit the spark in me to be a journalist. Won the Detroit Press Club Foundation President’s Award for high school journalism. Now I’m living my dream & published in major outlets. Thank you, Woodward & Bernstein, for inspiring a generation of journalists!

Last night, we had dinner with friends we’ve known for decades. The husband has been fighting cancer for two years. Yet, there was laughter, shared memories, and the comfort of simply being together. At this stage of life, we hope to be healthy, safe, and alive.

In your 20s, you care what people think about you. In your 40s, you care what they say about you. By your 60s, you realize they were too busy living their own lives to think or talk about you. And many of them aren’t in your life anymore.

Thank you @writingworkshops for your support and great instructors. writingworkshops.com/blogs/news/c...

I am so honored to be named an inaugural recipient of the James Patterson "Go Finish Your Book" Grant. As a later-in-life full-time writer, this recognition means the world to me. Thank you, James Patterson‪ @penamerica.bsky.social‬, from the bottom of my heart! apnews.com/article/jame...

We hosted our annual neighborhood potluck barbecue over the weekend. We were born in Taiwan, Hong Kong, India, Korea, Ukraine, and the USA, and somehow our paths led us here—together in one small corner of Los Angeles.

After slogging through receipts, bank statements, and credit card charges, I needed a change of scenery. A Southern Gothic party delivered: moody lights, eerie decor, and a hearse out front with a glowing skeleton inside.

When overwhelmed, I categorize tasks: memoir, essay, personal, and financial. I also think of what I did this month: Revised pages of my memoir pages with @sewaneewriters.bsky.social feedback & workshopped an essay in @storystudiochicago.bsky.social's Virtual Conference with @hughryan.bsky.social.

Great conversation from Shirin Yim Leos with @rchetypes.bsky.social about writing and publishing. Don't worry about how long it takes to write your book. If you're looking for an agent, residencies and awards can help open doors and give agents an extra reason to take notice.

open.substack.com/pub/yvonneli... What it's like to grow up with a mentally ill parent.

Super helpful Eula Biss revision class: Cut your piece by 1/3 or 1/2. Look for the heat in your piece. There is usually one sentence or a few of them that represent the essence of the piece. So fortunate to have been in Eula's workshop at the @sewaneewriters.bsky.social.

www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2025-... @aimeeliu.bsky.social sky.social What a literary salon with Maxine Hong Kingston, Aimee Liu, Peter Hsu and Lily Hoang. In-person and virtual.

So proud of my oldest daughter, who just passed her national standardized exam to become a licensed clinical psychologist. open.substack.com/pub/yvonneli...

A delight to speak with legendary agent Georges Borchardt, who secured a publisher for Elie Wiesel's Night. His agency stewards the estate of Tennessee Williams. On publishing, the longtime @sewaneewriters.bsky.social speaker said, "Everything is totally unpredictable...Keep the faith in yourself."

A terrific write-up on what it's like to attend the @sewaneewriters.bsky.social Conference. She perfectly captured the magic that makes it the "Writer's Wonderland of the South." ‪@writingelizabeth.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/writinge...

Looking forward to @garthgreenwell.bsky.social's AMA this Sunday at 1 p.m. ET for his Substack paid subscribers. It was lovely to meet the 2025 @penfaulkner.bsky.social winner in Fiction at Bread Loaf last year.

Thrilled to dig into some of the faculty books I picked up at @sewaneewriters.bsky.social. Wonderful to workshop with @eula.biss and Amy Leach. @vanessahua.bsky.social @jailthepoets.bsky.social. Meeting other writers transforms how you read their work and how you see your own.

Five years after starting writing full time, I've published in the @nytimes.com @salonnewsroom.bsky.social, etc. My @huffpost.com went viral twice, and I was on the Modern Love podcast. Grateful to be represented by a great New York agent for my memoir. It's not too late and never give up!

I’m on Substack. Hope you’ll subscribe to my free newsletter. substack.com/@yvonneliuwr...

What a gift to meet @sewaneewriters.bsky.social authors like @kirstinchen.bsky.social @jonvhickey.bsky.social @VenitaBlackburn. Their readings, craft talks, and conversations at gatherings and meals filled my creative well. Following Kirstin's advice, just finished those 1000 words❤️

Me to a fellow memoirist last night: “Sometimes there are perfect moments in life.” Thank you to the wonderful @sewaneewriters.bsky.social staff, faculty and fellows. 🥰🥰 to my many new friends. Can’t wait to see see all the exciting work you’ll produce.

It's our wedding anniversary. Thank you hubby for believing in me before I believed in myself. Excited for hopefully many more years together as we watch our family grow. 🥰🥰

A woman who lights up any place, Anada Lima, on staff at 😛@sewaneewriters and at @storystudiochicago.bsky.social, where I've taken great classes. Excited for their Story Board next month.

Grateful for the chance to share the first chapter of my memoir at the @sewaneewriters.bsky.social -Thank you to my fellow artists who took the time to say my reading moved them. Thank you from the bottom of my heart🥰🥰 #writers #authors #writingcommunity #memoirs