I’ve refrained from creating any life updates lately, because my updates lately have also revolved around both online and offline things, and I wasn’t totally sure how to braid those things into a seamless life update post. I’m still putting this in with the other life updates and not treating “Liz Lately” like it’s its own series, but…the name of the whole series of sorts may change. I’ve played with “Liz Lately” before and liked it, even though looking back at the post makes me cringe. ?

Changing my blog name is like a breath of fresh air

I felt so trapped and constrained by 6birds, whereas with Janepedia, I feel like I can fly. I registered mid-April, after spending about two months checking its availability daily and spending six months before that constantly thinking about it. Once I registered it, I figured I’d be happy setting up a static portfolio on it and continuing to use 6birds, but I’d spent eight months longing for this domain so much, and the only way I know how to properly articulate it is by comparing the feeling to how I felt when I changed my Twitter and Instagram handles to @ijanelively.

My name change is further away than I expected, but maybe this domain brings me a little closer. I definitely feel a little more confident and not like I’m stuck in a slump that is the mold people in my life pushed me into. ? I’m Liz, and I’m going to do me…now I just need a new theme and I’ll be all set. ??

I thought my identity was stolen

There were questions about things I did that aligned with someone from which I am estranged, and the credit reporting agency (CRA) systems telling me my answers were wrong and I needed to prove my identity via snail mail made me start connecting all kinds of dots.

This experience only led to me

• learning the truth about CRAs—turns out I am basically a product to for-profit companies;
• finding a legitimate reason the former guardians of Liv, a character from a web series I am developing, were imprisoned (I’d been struggling with that);
• learning parents steal their children’s identity all the time and it’s a real issue (hence the above point being worked into the series’ story line);
• posting an ambiguous post on not making lemonade out of lemons;
• brainstorming alternative ways to help make a difference in the world and stepping back onto that path; and
• spending the entire month of July freaking out.

I binge-watched the entire Australian drama/fantasy H2O: Just Add Water on Netflix. ‘Cause I’m no ordinary girl, I’m from the deep blue underworld! Land or see, I’ve got the power if I just belieeeeeeeve! ‘Cause I’m no ordinary girl…

Yeah…I’ve got the theme song memorised…

But then…I also spent a lot of time in a Facebook group for bloggers, stalking the “Collaboration Tuesday” threads, to help take my mind of my reality. I now have two physical pages (well, one page, front and back) full of blogs open to guest posts—blogs by real, approachable people. I’ve been wanting to practice submitting my writing, so this is awesome.

One of those opportunities was to be a columnist for an upcoming magazine entitled Choose to Cook, on which I am now the weekly allergy columnist. I might write for the actual magazine as well, once I settle in to writing weekly and survive the end-of-the-year holidays.

Upcoming book club

I’ve been working on a book club for a while now—at least since January of this year. The inspiration for the project stems from my desire to join a book club myself, but after working in everything it regards—unfamiliar environment, verbal communication and immediate processing, potential allergies/stress from concern for allergens, social interaction, finding a ride to and from place of book club meeting, potential sensory overload—I decided I’d finally run into something my allergic, autistic self prevented me from enjoying…until I was like, “Too bad there isn’t such a thing as virtual book clubs,” and, “Wait…could that be a thing?!”

So…I’m not trying to get all of it sorted and hope to have it sorted by October. ??? If you’ve any experience with these kinds of things and/or hosting things on your blog, I’d love some tips! Thus far, it’s just every three months (quarterly): October 2016, January 2017, April 2017…

Until next time! ??