Meet Liz Smith

My path to becoming a contributor to the Austin Moms Blog began in my hometown of San Antonio. In second grade, I wrote a poem about worms and carrots that won a citywide poetry contest. That was when I realized I wanted to be a writer.

Growing up it seemed like everyone had an extracurricular activity. Since I couldn’t turn cartwheels, was musically challenged (my piano teacher fired me!) and incapable of drawing a straight line, I decided to make writing my hobby. Eventually, I became the editor of my high school newspaper.

In 1995, l moved up IH-35 to Austin and in between visits to 6th Street, I earned a Journalism degree from UT. After I graduated, I thought I was going to take the magazine world by storm, but my first few attempts to start my career failed and I became discouraged. After that, I didn’t write again for 19 years.

Twenty-something, jobless and angsty, I decided to spent the next chapter of my life traveling and living overseas in an attempt to find myself. After a romance with an Aussie bloke didn’t work out, I ended up back in Texas working in pharmaceutical sales.

I married my husband Sam in 2012 on a white sandy beach in the Caribbean. In 2015, we welcomed our first son Everett into the world. Then, in 2017 our second son Holden was born. Hours after his birth we discovered that he has a rare genetic syndrome, Pfeiffer syndrome.

My emotions surrounding Holden’s diagnosis were overwhelming and in an attempt to make sense of my family’s new life, I finally started writing again. This led me to start my personal blog, The Happiness Syndrome, where I share a lot about my family’s journey with Holden’s medical and social struggles.

I am thrilled to continue my renewed passion for writing as a contributor to the Austin Moms Blog. I want to use my voice to raise awareness for children with physical differences. I hope I can also contribute some more lighthearted blogs about the funnier side of motherhood.

In addition to my rekindled love for writing, I am a huge fan of hair bands (Bon Jovi 4Eva), post-apocalyptic fiction, queso and power naps.  When I’m not working, wrangling toddlers, loading the dishwasher, or moonlighting as a patient advocate, you can find me enjoying dinner with my husband at a trendy restaurant or reading a book in the bathtub. Hopefully this former child poet can bring an interesting point-of-view to the Austin Moms Blog.