Welcome!

Hello, and welcome to Olivia Rhodes. It’s so nice to have you here, I have been looking forward to this for quite some time!

I am pretty new to this whole website situation, so please bear with me while I figure this thing out.

As we are about to head into 2023, I wanted to get on here. First thing first, let me introduce myself. I am Olivia, and this is my story (literally). I was born and raised in southern New England (Rhode Island and Massachusetts, to be precise) and I have a love for fantasy, fiction, history, music, and magic. I lived in a small town, in a big yellow house down a long, winding driveway, tucked neatly in the woods. As a child, I spent a lot of time writing, or at the library. You could often find me tucked away with my nose in a book. If I wasn’t reading, I was running around the woods - usually alone, though sometimes with my two siblings or the few kids in our half of the neighbourhood - letting my imagination run wild.

Back in those days thanks to youth, there was little to no fear of bugs & illnesses, wild animals, or weirdos in the woods. There was also a surplus of never ending adventure in those woods, and in my mind. Those woods were, and still are, a magical place.

I come from a family of creatives, nurtured the most by my mum. She is an artist - she draws, paints, throws clay, creates something out of nothing. My dad was a small business owner whose love for music and adventure was ever present. My younger brother and sister are also skilled in the visual arts - no, like proper skilled. They can draw, paint, photograph, make music, and create magic with colour that I literally can only dream of. It should come as no surprise I loved english class throughout school and excelled in classes that focused on poetry and creative writing. In fact, I got in trouble in law school for having ‘flourishy writing' and was often docked points for my ‘liberal arts background’ - a story for another day, perhaps. I live for vocabulary and etymology.

While I didn’t seem to inherit any real visual arts skill, I was given words and wild imagination (and a ridiculous amount of ADHD not diagnosed until the second half of high school). This meant mum had to deal with countless notebooks and papers filled with little scribbles of stories and poems. Most of these have since been lost, probably for the best, if I am honest, but the point is they existed.

We all start somewhere.

I spent my formative years roleplaying with my friends online, and that is what ultimately brought me into writing officially. Inspired by so many great works of fiction and fantasy, it was easy to lose myself for countless hours with people I hold close to me. The thing is, at the end of the day if these stories brought me joy and reprieve, then perhaps they could do that for someone else seeking the same thing. So… here we are.

Thank you. For supporting me, believing in me, and for just being here. It’s great to have you on this adventure with me.

Olivia

xx