Guest author: Liv from Olive & Page

Meet Liv, the beauty behind Olive & Page, here today to share her journey behind writing 3 children’s books plus a range of journals.

Connect with Liv:
https://oliveandpage.com
@oliveandpage

Book(s) you have written:
A series of three picture books - which were all created to provide a platform to press pause on the busy hustle of life, to connect and share with our gorgeous little ones, while reminding them just how truly loved they are.
♡ My Wishes For You
♡ Before You Were Here
♡ In a World Full of Magic

What inspired you to write your book?
When my daughter was three months old, I was writing in her baby journal under a section ‘parent’s wishes for you.’ As I tend to do, I got a little carried away with all of these wishes and started sprawling so many words onto a page! My wishes for her were more about the way she would live her life; such as having courage to try new things, believing in herself, being kind, exploring everything to the edges, having beautiful friendships, being curious about life and always looking for the good in it, resilience when things get tough (which at some point, they would), but most of all, I wanted her to go about her life knowing with so much conviction that she was oh so ultra-loved.
I turned these sprawled out wishes I had on a page into a poem, and that was the beginning of the year long process of creating our first children’s book, My Wishes For You. I had absolutely no idea we would sell thousands of this book, and knowing that these pages warm the hearts and homes of people all over, still gives me goosebumps.

Do you have a method/process when writing the text?
In short, no. For me, writing comes very much from within. I have no idea what’s going to be written until it’s there in front of me. I have, however, completed a yearlong writing diploma, and there were some clear processes to writing different sorts of genres. The children’s books I have written were very much from the heart, inspired by my children, and also seeing how wonderful little people are; how they are so full of joy, wonder, and love. They really are the greatest purpose to life.
So instead of writing in accordance with literary standards (like a clear plot, characterisation, dialogue, etc) I just went with words from the heart.

Was there anything you struggled with?
Aaaah, so much!!! This was not a clear process at all, and everything for me was done by my own research and following my jiggety-jaggety way as I went along.
Finding a publisher was the biggest hurdle. I spent A LOT of time researching for a high quality company that used environmentally friendly pages, and one that would also be able to print my Olive + Page journals. It also had to work in the market financially, so I had to get a cost per unit that would still work for wholesale, while keeping retail price at a reasonable level. Once I found something that could work, it was all go!

What were the biggest highlights?
For me, the biggest thing is the feedback received from people who have our books. It really, really, lights me up! It’s the stories you hear from stockists when they call for another batch saying they can’t keep up with demand. It’s when a stockist buys 100 books at a time. Or the unexpected stories you hear, like how In a World Full of Magic was bought for a teenage who was struggling, to remind her there is still beauty around and how loved she is. Or how My Wishes For You was bought for a 19 year old heading off on her OE. Or seeing how customers come back over and over and buy the trio for all their friends with new babies and kid’s birthdays. Or how people tell you they tear up. And their kids love all the fun pictures on these pages.
All of those things are huge highlights for me, and make the journey so, so, so, worthwhile.

Did you have any formal training? Courses or books you may have used?
I completed a Diploma in Writing for Creative Industries from NMIT a number of years ago. Being a trained accountant and having spent 15 years within the accounting / finance industry, enrolling in creative full-time study when I was 35 had to be one of the most crazy things I had ever done!! But it was the best, and really re-ignited my zest for life. In saying that, nothing I learnt was applied to these books. Perhaps the course led me to be more confident in my writing abilities, and perhaps it gave me the idea of self-publishing. But I don’t believe that a specific course is a predecessor to deciding to self-publish. It’s more the will to make it happen.

Do you have any tips for other aspiring authors?
I truly believe that we all have a story to be told, and our stories are all worth telling.
To be able to put pen to paper and write your own flow of words that come from your unique experiences, perspectives, and views of the world - and then be able to share them with others - is such a phenomenal gift we have as a human being. If you believe in yourself, and you have the courage to try, anything is possible.