Sometimes things don’t turn out right. I’ll just enjoy them as rolls. A little like life. Things may not turn out the way you imagined, but they can still be good.

Growing up, I watched the Oscars every year & dreamed of winning an award. My daughter & son-in-law gave me the @academymuseum.bsky.social "Oscar" experience. I stood on stage, gave a mock acceptance speech & cried. A year later, I won a major writing grant. Never give up on your dreams.

Last year, my regular hairdresser wasn’t available, so I tried someone new. It looked great for a few months, but then came far too many bad hair days. Yesterday I went to my old hairdresser. She studied the uneven shape and then everything looked right again. Some relationships are meant to last.

Six years ago, I hosted a book launch for @Maye Musk’s memoir A Woman Makes a Plan. Soon after, we went into lockdown, and I began writing my memoir. A surprising gift was virtual learning with great teachers and the opportunity to build a literary community. What a difference six years makes!

“I cast my net very wide and see what happens,” Kavitha Cardoza, keynote at @indiejournalists.bsky.social Conference, moderated by Katherine Reynolds Lewis. Proud to be a conference volunteer for this organization that provides training for journalists and advocates for journalists’ rights.

www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/ar... So many have commented and DMd me to say they see themselves in Punch. Some even cried for him… and for me. My memoir-in-progress explores a life shaped by rejection and what it takes to outgrow it @yahoonews.com @msnewsdesk.bsky.social

www.ms.now/opinion/punc... Like Punch, my mother abandoned me. Why a baby monkey broke the internet–and me.

As someone abandoned by my birth mother, watching Punch clutch his stuffed animal, rejected at first by the other monkeys, then finally accepted by a substitute mother, brought me to tears. We all just want to belong. We all just want to be loved. 💛

Happy Chinese New Year! Saturday felt extra special sharing a Shanghainese dinner with extended family, then ending the night with my first visit to Meet Fresh, a dessert chain from Taiwan.

Happy Valentine's Day to my husband. My New York Times Tiny Love Stories that published during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

kept these secrets became of shame: I was adopted. I grew up in a household with mental illness and domestic violence. Not anymore. Sharing my truth was so freeing. My @huffpost.com piece that went viral: www.huffpost.com/entry/httpsw...

Terrific @storystudiochicago.bsky.social Amitava Kumar seminar on revision. The right class at the right time. 1. Offer just enough to invite the reader to make the right prediction. 2. Erasure is a necessary element of the work. 3. If something is obvious, it can be removed.

My writing superstitions: Never listen to podcasts or read anything about writer’s block. I track my writing and editing hours and will not start a writing sprint at 8:40 a.m. In Chinese culture, 8 means good fortune and 4 sounds like death. Starting the 4th full draft of my memoir, so wish me luck.

I never connected that the fabulous Catherine O'Hara in Schitt's Creek (and so many other roles) was the mom in Home Alone. Love that she kept working and reinvented herself over and over. My kids and I watched the original movie every Christmas holiday for years. R.I.P. 💔

Last year I had the privilege of talking with legendary literary agent Georges Borchardt. He died yesterday at 97. I loved hearing his wisdom and advice on memoirs, writing, and publishing. He represented Elie Wiesel, Ian McEwan, and so many others. R.I.P., Monsieur Borchardt. Au revoir.

open.substack.com/pub/yvonneli... On why Chloe Zhao's win at the Golden Globes meant so much.

Hi all. I’m more active on Threads. Same handle @yvonneliuwriter

2025 writing gratitude list: • Finished a full draft of my memoir • A James Patterson “Go Finish Your Book” grant recipient • Sewanee Writers’ Conference Scholar • Published a NYT Tiny Love Stories & a HuffPost essay The wonderful and generous writers I’ve met in person and virtually 🎄

Hi everyone. I am still here, but I'm spending more time on Threads because it’s fun and engaging. The conversations with writers, women fulfilling long-delayed dreams, and the AuthorThreads have been great.

I have been doing several hours of revision on my memoir every weekday. To reset my brain, I stream a great drama & study the narrative and pace. This series has unexpected twists, sharp writing & great acting.

An early Christmas gift. I thought I knew the end of my memoir, but today the true one revealed itself. My teachers and workshop leaders were right: The book will tell you what it wants to be. Thank you, book!

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!