iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Amidst the glamour of the Emmys,Michael J. Fox reminded us how fragile life can be. I heard him speak at my daughter’s college and have never forgotten his resilience & humor. We watched him on the screen, but the way he has used his platform to help others may be his most inspiring role of all.

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

When my parents refused to pay for my college and later graduate school, though they paid for my brother’s, I worked like hell. I put myself through college with work-study and earned a full fellowship to graduate school. Gloria Steinem taught us that women are equal.

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

I recently joined OneSky for All Children's Circle as a monthly donor, supporting programs that help children in orphanages I dedicated my gift in honor of Sai Yeung Choi Sze, my first name. In my memoir. I write about a “milk mother." I needed to believe that someone had shown me tenderness there.

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

This is the longest I’ve gone without touching my memoir, about two weeks. But it has been nice to catch up on life, take care of house projects, host friends for lunch, and appreciate these thoughtful hostess gifts. Sometimes life needs tending, too. The memoir will be there when I return.

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

When my mother was alive, it was impossible to set boundaries. I often felt guilty, as though protecting myself made me a bad daughter. The consequences of not setting those boundaries have stayed for years. Being someone’s daughter does not mean allowing them to keep hurting you.

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

The writing life comes with so much rejection that an acceptance feels especially sweet. Excited to moderate “You Are Not Your Book: Building a Writing Life Beyond Outcome” at #AWP2027 with my McCormack Writing Center Winter 2022 cohort. @awpwriter.org

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

So wonderful to meet fellow AAPI creatives at the @mccormackwc.bsky.social Conference. It was a pleasure to organize our lunch gathering and to hear that so many have parents who support their literary dreams. I like to think of myself as the cool auntie cheering them on.

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

My birth mother abandoned me in a stairwell in Hong Kong, but she chose a busy place. The title of my memoir is Left to Be Found because she wanted me to be found. My heart breaks for this baby. There are Safe Haven Boxes at hospitals, fire stations & police stations. No judgment, just life.

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Sometimes things don’t turn out the way you expected. Yesterday, it was bread. I measured, followed the directions, and pushed the right button. Kind of like writing a book: outline, write, revise, and the work changes. As one teacher said, “The book will tell you what it wants to be.”

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Honored and blessed to share at my church’s Women’s Life Group on Sunday about healing and hope despite childhood trauma, past wounds, and rejection. Grateful for the chance to speak honestly about how even the deepest hurts do not have to define you.

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Great to meet Carol Lin, former CNN, ABC News & NPR journalist and author of "When News Breaks." A Memoir of Love and War. A groundbreaking AAPI journalist, she spoke about why it was important to go deep in her memoir because “Readers deserve to understand fully the questions that I was posing."

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Last week, Loved caught up with an “auntie” I’ve known since I was ten, someone who remembered how excited my mother was to meet another Chinese family living nearby. Then a special afternoon with my son, nephews, niece, her husband, and their newborn, the first of the next generation.

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

I’ve always thought my Mandarin wasn't good enough. My adoptive parents spoke Fuzhounese at home, After my lesson with my Chinese tutor yesterday, I understand why learning a foreign language may help prevent Alzheimer’s.

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

My shoes got soaked in Guilin, so I bought these and told the shopkeeper I wanted to remove the charms, not realizing the names are from Disney's Zootopia. On the trip home, two TSA employees said I should watch the movie, which is about identity and belonging, what my memoir is about.

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Checked something off my bucket list: the limestone karst mountains of Guilin & Yangshuo. On the plane home, I read my memoir from beginning to end. Time to return to the page and keep working toward sharing my truth in a book that might help others feel seen and less alone.

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

www.huffpost.com/entry/immigr... What happened with Justin Fairfax is a reminder that this kind of violence happens far too often. There were times I thought my father would kill my mother. A man attacks or kills his wife and their children are left to live with the aftermath forever.

huffpost.com

We Looked Like A 'Model Minority' Family. No One Knew What My Father Was Doing Behind Closed Doors.

"Even after I graduated as valedictorian of my high school, got accepted into a top MBA program, and became a wife and mother, the silence stayed with me."

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

www.buzzfeed.com/yvonneliuhp/... Surprised but pleased that my @huffpost.com adoptee essay, which went viral twice, was recently published in @buzzfeed.com, one of their sister publications. Glad it found even more readers and might help others in some small way.

buzzfeed.com

I Kept My Family's Secret For Over 60 Years. Now, I'm Finally Telling The Truth.

"To everyone else, we looked like the perfect family. No one outside our home knew what we knew."

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

A fun way to improve your craft is by watching TV. I don’t watch shows the same way anymore, always noticing what pulls me in, how the tension builds, where it releases, and how you can't wait for the next episode or season. FX shows Doc and Memory of a Killer do this so well. @fxnetworks.com

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

Over forty years ago, my husband and I headed west. I never would have guessed I’d one day be writing full-time. Three kids later, it’s just the two of us at home again. I bought this miniature license plate after lunch with my brother, who had moved here before us. We’re both survivors.

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

@mccormackwc.bsky.social Thrilled to be accepted into the Oregon Summer Workshop. "With well over a thousand applications submitted, we hope this news brings you joy and a boost of confidence in your writing.” The writing life is filled with so much rejection, so yes, it sure does!

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

Listened to a Tim Ferriss podcast with Jim Collins on What to Make of a Life. Give your most important time to the work or role you’re encoded for, the one that aligns with your nature. And if you’re pursuing something with very long odds, you have to go all in. Otherwise, your chances are zero.

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

This Washington Post article hit me to my core. From my memoir-in-progress, Left to Be Found. A passerby found me in a stairwell in Kowloon, Hong Kong. I was a bundle that moved. A stranger who stopped. The police came and took me to Christopher’s Home. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

Went to a community event with a great Eagles cover band and realized I still know the words to almost every song. So fun to dance and sing along with a joyous group of people who also knew every word. Which band or singer was the soundtrack of your youth?

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

Six years ago, during the pandemic, our three kids came home when their campuses shut down. For the first time in ten years, the five of us were living under one roof for more than a brief holiday. Now two are married and none of the kids live nearby. It was also when I began writing my memoir.

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

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.

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

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.

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

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.

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

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!

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

“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.

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

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

yahoo.com

Why a baby monkey’s rejection broke the internet — and me

The question worth asking isn't why a baby monkey is so adorable. It's why so many of us saw our own stories in his.

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

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. 💛

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

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.

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

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

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

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...

huffpost.com

I Kept My Family's Secret For Over 60 Years. Now, I'm Finally Telling The Truth.

"To everyone else, we looked like the perfect family. No one outside our home knew what we knew."

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

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.

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

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.

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

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. 💔

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

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.

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 21/12/2025

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 🎄

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

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.

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

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.

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Yvonne Liu. Writer. Adoptee. Memoir-in-Progress @yvonneliuwriter.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

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!

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