My name is Olivia Hartwell and I want to welcome you to my site! I'm a writer and I hope you're here because you like my stories. If you haven't read any yet, then head on over to my Amazon page (which will be linked soon) and find something you want to check out. I do offer some free stories online, one being my fan fiction for Harry Potter (it's a continuation of what happened after the last book in the series) which you can find here.
I started writing in my late twenties, after meeting my husband Alex Hartwell, who is also a writer who you can find here. He challenged me to write something, so I did, and then I never stopped. You can find that story here (link not available yet) (and it only took me seventeen years to finish it!). I did write a single story in the fourth grade, but I never wrote anything again until I was twenty-seven. It's so weird. But I have ADHD, so I guess that kind of makes sense (as well as taking seventeen years to finish a story).
Other fun ailments I have are reoccurring migraines, anxiety, and POTS. I also am on the spectrum, so that makes for a fun combo. But then again, how many writers aren't? But mix all of that with my ADHD, and do you know how hard it is for me to finish a story? Let me tell you, it's not easy in the least. But sometimes I just have to buckle down and get it done.
So, that's what this website is for. To force me to finish my stories. Because obviously I need something to kick my butt into gear. Even if it's an arbitrary made-up deadline, it's still something that speaks to my brain and makes it work better. That's an ADHD tip for you guys.
Another thing is that I am a unplanner. I don't usually plot out stories before writing them. But I am learning that some of my stories need planning, so I am working on that. We'll see what happens. Usually writing outlines drains all my creativity and I can't write. But now I am finding that I can't write without planning something. Is this a a new me? Or is this just this one story I am working on? I don't know. We'll see. Let me tell you though, I'd be SO much faster and get more done if I could just outline. So, I'm going to try to force myself to do it. Fingers crossed that it works.
I live with my family in the north with our five-hundred (give or take) cats and five dogs and ten chickens and one hamster (at the moment, who knows what pets we'll have in the future) and two kids, and my one husband. Our house is too small at the moment, and we're looking to move somewhere with more land and a bigger house. But we'll see what happens.
I spend my days hanging out on our rural property with my awesome family and taking care of all those animals and people and cleaning our small little house and cooking food for myself and everyone else and working on my store and writing. Let's just say I keep pretty busy, when I am not stuck in bed due to POTS or anxiety (although then I am creating art, reading, writing, or watching my favorite shows on streaming services). It's always a party at the Hartwell house. Even if sometimes it's a just a Netflix party from the comfort of our couch or king-sized bed (I honestly have no room in my bed, even with it being that big, as four of our dogs share it with us, plus an odd cat or two).
I am also very interested in minimalism and slow living and meditation. Though, while I am interested in minimalism, know that I am not a minimalist. I am very much a maximalist who is on her way to tiny amounts of minimalism in certain spaces of my life and home, one itsy-bitsy step at a time. I also try to do everything with mindfulness of Buddhist style living and living with intention. Some of my favorite slow living creators to watch on Youtube are Darling Desi, The Cottage Fairy, and Malama Life. Also, I am a nemophilist and feel more at home in the woods than anywhere else (as I have for my entire life). And being hygge is just a natural extension of slow living and Buddhism.
Reality Break: I installed two chimes right by my bedroom window and the wind is blowing so slightly tonight that the chimes are just barely making a sound. It's quite beautiful.
I really should be talking about my stories here. But that will come later. I have an entire site to fill up with that. For now, I will leave you with the idea that you should stop, slow down, and just exist for a bit. Stop rushing and just live in the moment. Become aware of the world around you. The way the air feels on your skin. The way trees are rustling as the leaves are falling (it's autumn here now). The sounds of the traffic or maybe the birds. Just everything. Take time to find yourself and who you are. Fall in love with the life you have, even if everything sucks. I think that's the key. The key to everything. To true happiness. To peace. To loving yourself. To understanding the world. To really living. We place so much value on rushing around through life that we don't ever stop to experience it as it really is. I think a wise man said it best:
And my stories reflect this view. At least I try to make them reflect this view. It's my goal, anyways.
That is all. For now.
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