The Fraudulent Life of Olive Reinbeck

My name isn't really Olive Reinbeck.

I feel like most readers will know this already. You don't often find steamy romance novelists offering their real identities to the world. There's a reason E.L. James is known by initials and not... well, whatever her full name is.

I have living grandparents. Catholic grandparents. There's no way they can know what I am writing about. They just about survived my nose piercing, and I am yet to tell them about any tattoos (which I fear would well and truly finish them off). It's not worth the risk. I'll just have to remain anonymous. Potentially forever.

Okay, there are other reasons too. The usual ones. The boring, mundane kind that float into your mind just when you think you should be bold and do something new: I feel like I'm not particularly talented. I feel like I'm indulging in a silly, frivolous experiment. I feel like if I try then I will fail.

Maybe those things are true. I've thought them countless times in countless circumstances. Sometimes, the thoughts alone are enough to make me give up before I even start. I'm not going to do that this time.

So, while my name might not be real, the rest of what I write here is.

I am on the wrong side of 30 and writing is all I've ever really wanted to do. I have both an undergraduate and masters degree in English Literature, and I work in a field completely unrelated to my studies. I think I'm a better cook than my boyfriend, he thinks he is a better cook than me (the truth is that we're both mediocre). I tell myself that I am trying really hard, but I know I don't always try my best. I lament and forgive myself daily, and, like almost everyone else on the internet right now, I'm 99% sure I have undiagnosed ADHD. I'm also 99% sure I will never take the steps to find out.

I am going to write and publish the books that I have been drafting, writing and deleting for the better part of 6 years, and I hope you come along for the journey.

All my love,

Olive