We’re looking forward to introducing you to Genie Davis. Check out our conversation below.
Genie, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What is a normal day like for you right now?
Text good mornings to my boyfriend and to friends who live alone.
Answer emails, feed my cats, make breakfast, and if my son is home and awake, talk about the cats, writing, or movies.
Do phone interviews with clients if scheduled and/or go to farmer’s market, a grocery store, drug store or car wash, do yoga, or take a short morning walk.
Work on whatever project I was doubtlessly in the middle of writing the night before.
Read online stories about art, film, invitations to events.
Continue working on that project I likely still haven’t finished, whether it is: ghostwriting a certain number of book chapters for clients, writing an article, researching an article (could be art, amusement parks, carnivals, plumbing, finance).
Think about any upcoming art shows I am curating, contact artists/galleries either about those shows or to pitch future curation projects.
Grab a yogurt.
Make plans to walk either with my walking group of friends for the last 14 years or with my bf of 11 years. If the latter, we might talk about where we are going to eat dinner following our walk.
Return from walk/dinner, go back to work on a project and actually finish it.
Maybe go to a ten p.m. movie with my son, Or read a book. Or talk to a friend whose morning is just starting half way around the world. Or start a new project and leave it unfinished until the next day (the latter is quite likely.)
Start to look at weekend plans, read movie reviews if I have seen a movie, scroll social media, or read a book.
Wish I had cats who actually cuddled at night, instead of in the morning when I want to wake up.
Rinse and repeat.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Introduction to my brand and myself:
I like to think of myself as bringing joy to people. Whether that is through my writing (my own or for others), spreading news about art exhibitions and artists, taking photographs at multiple art openings and sharing them online across multiple platforms, or curating art exhibitions/shaping a fun opening, I want to bring joy through the written word or visual acumen.
My self-run “parent company” is Liza Boo Productions, named after a half Persian stray kitty who lived with me for 20 years. Under that banner I write articles, books, and website content. My online art magazine is DiversionsLA.com.
I am primarily a writer and an art curator these days I write about art, usually for my own DiversionsLA.com (which I really wish everyone who reads would please hit the free subscribe button to), although I have written for a wide range of arts publications from the late, lamented Art Scene, Fabrik, and Riot Material to Art & Cake and Artillery. I am also a working journalist in fields from retail to carnivals to medical to finance topics, and I ghostwrite books from biographies and memoirs to romance fiction, as well as (occasionally these days) writing my own fiction. In an earlier incarnation of my life, I was a screen and TV writer and a full-time novelist.
Curation is a great pleasure for me. I know and love many artists and gallerists, and I love seeing a themed show (I am big on themed shows) come together as a living, breathing entity. Shaping a visual world is pure pleasure, as is interacting with the artists in the show, handling the PR and all of that. It also takes me out of the house. The problem with writing is that it is a solitary activity, and particularly these days, joy is to be found in community.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
Such an existential question, as to who I was before the world told me I had to be a certain way…
Around 3 years old, I was told – not having a memory of this one – that I wanted to “own a museum.” My mom frequently took me to the National Gallery of Art from babyhood on.
At around four years of age, I ran an orphanage — for dolls. I wanted to run my own real orphanage, which i thought of as a place where I would always have plenty of children to play with.
Around five years old, I started putting on plays in my parents’ basement, directing other kids and relatives in my own “scripts” based on favorite TV shows. I planned to support myself as an adult by writing sitcoms, while also writing poetry.
Is there something you miss that no one else knows about?
I miss having the kind of big family I have always wanted. You know, the kind where fifteen different people are always dropping in, interupting your work but bringing mint tea or chocolate chip cookies and telling you every second of their day.
Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? What would your closest friends say really matters to you?
Being loved and appreciated
Writing a novel that EVERYONE wants to read or a script that everyone clamors to get made
Art
Cats
People I love and appreciate
Order shifts around on diferent days and different times of the day
Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. When do you feel most at peace?
Listening to a loved one tell me interesting stories and my cats are listening, too.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.diversionsla.com/
- Instagram: @justlikepattismith
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/genie-davis-5886b53/
- Twitter: @DiversionsLA
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/geniewrites and https://www.facebook.com/GenieDavisAuthor and https://www.facebook.com/diversionsla
- Other: Threads: @justlikepattismith
Bluesky: @geniewrites
