An Interview with S.H. Livernois

S.H. Livernois lives in Northern New York with her husband and dog. She writes in multiple genres, but everything she writes scares both herself and her loved ones.

Who/what made you want to write? Was there a particular person, or particular writers/works/art forms that influenced you?

When I was in kindergarten, a storyteller came to my school. I don’t remember what stories he told, but I distinctly remember him wearing shoes decorated with dozens and dozens of beads strung on safety pins. He told us that every bead represented a story he’d written. I remember thinking “I want to do that.” That’s my first recollection of deciding to write and I’ve been doing it, in one form or another, ever since.

What other professions have you worked in? What’s something about you that your readers wouldn’t know?

I was a news reporter for five years, from 2005 to 2010, and I did some online news writing for a year or two. Now, I write freelance for a local arts newspaper. My “real job” is in food service and I work at a family business with my husband and in-laws.

What is one thing you hope readers take away from reading your book? How do you envision your perfect reader?

In every book and story I write, I try to inject some kind of life lesson into the subtext. I hope that my books find their way into a reader’s life when they need it most. Emotional connection is a very important goal for me, with everything I write.

My perfect reader is someone who is open-minded and leaves their expectations of what they think a book should be like at the door. I like to mash genres together and try to do different things, especially now that I’m writing the sixth book in this series, and I want readers who will give me the space to be as creative as I’m drawn to be.

What was the most rewarding/meaningful part of publishing your book?

Publishing books is a very solitary endeavor. It’s just me and my computer, and my editors live in different states, so I’ve never met them. So the most rewarding part is actually getting to talk to a reader, especially in person. It’s nerve-wracking and a little awkward because my books are so personal and private to me, but I still very much enjoy that part.

What new writing projects are you currently working on? Or, other projects that are not writing?

I am currently writing the sixth book in the Frontenac Sisters series, which is called The Only Constant. I just finished a short story called “Big Wild World,” which will be published in Sally Port Magazine in January. I’ve got another short story in the works and a couple of flash pieces. My secondary lifelong passion, which I’ve been doing since I was maybe fourteen, is photography, and I’m waiting to hear back on a proposal for a photo book about New York’s North Country, where I live.

Are you a writer, too? Submit your manuscript to Atmosphere Press.