FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Meet New Book Author Liz Crokin,
a Seasoned Hollywood Journalist

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Novelist Liz Crokin

Beverly Hills, Calif. (January 8, 2015) – Hollywood & Vine Books is excited to introduce new book author Liz Crokin. She will release her political romantic thriller, Malice, this February in paperback. The novel will be available worldwide on Amazon.com and other book retailers. Crokin is a seasoned journalist who has covered Hollywood full-time for over a decade. She has traveled the world to exotic places and Podunk towns – ranging from The Galapagos Islands chasing Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie to Britney Spears’ hometown of Kentwood, Louisiana – and consistently broke front-page news. She has worked as a West Coast Senior Editor for both Star and In Touch magazines. She also served as a West Coast Reporter for Us Weekly. She’s broken exclusive stories on the demise of several marriages, including Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher; Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries; and Katy Perry and Russell Brand. She has interviewed hundreds of celebrities and covered countless red-carpets. Her In Touch position took her to many cities and countries, including Spain, Mexico and the Bahamas, where she broke multiple front-page stories on Anna Nicole Smith just months before her tragic death.

As a seasoned Chicago journalist, Crokin wrote the popular gossip column Liz In The Loop for the RedEye Edition of the Chicago Tribune for seven years. She also made several national TV appearances talking about her front-page celebrity stories on shows such as Extra, Biography Channel specials, AXS Live and hosted two regular TV segments on local Chicago news programs. She has freelanced for an array of entertainment publications such as Globe, National Enquirer, Life & Style, Look, Radar, E! News, Closer and OK!

Crokin has a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Journalism from the University of Iowa. She began her journalism career in Washington, DC after wrapping up an internship with Bill O’Reilly at Fox News Channel. In DC, she interned for the State Department’s news service and covered the White House beat. She reported on the daily morning gaggle with the President’s Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, covered press conferences in the East Room, attended bill signings in the Rose Garden, reported at the White House Correspondents’ dinners and even covered a meeting with President George W. Bush and a foreign leader in the Oval Office. She wrote her stories from an office in the basement of the West Wing or the State Department under Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Most recently, Crokin authored a gossip column for the Chicago Sun-Times Splash titled La La Liz. Crokin currently serves as a contributing writer for Elite Daily. Also, she is on a press circuit performing interviews about her upcoming novel, Malice.

For more information on Liz Crokin, visit her website at www.lizcrokin.com. To get directly in touch with her for opportunities, email us and we will promptly connect you!

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Media Contact:
Hollywood & Vine Books
c/o Breaking into Hollywood
9595 Wilshire Blvd. 9th Floor
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
310.712.3459
www.hollywoodvinebooks.com

Everyone has that horrible day that the simple thought of its anniversary is dreaded because there are terrible memories attached to it. For one, that day may be the day they lost a loved one. For another, maybe it’s the day you got into a tragic accident that left you handicapped. For a veteran, maybe it’s the day you fought in a horrific combat and lost a beloved fellow soldier. For me, it’s the day I was diagnosed with a life-threatening disease that left me with a disability. That day has caused me tremendous ongoing pain and suffering. However, I made a pact with myself before the one-year anniversary that I would always make that date a great day. Here’s how I turn my dreaded day into a day of celebration.

On October 8, 2012 doctors told me I had meningitis. I later found out that my meningitis was triggered from genital herpes that my ex-boyfriend infected me with.   My disease eventually progressed from herpes-meningitis to meningoencephalitis and caused brain damage. My brain was so swollen after my initial diagnosis that I was physically unable to sit up in a chair for more than a few minutes at a time for weeks. It also did not function the way it used to. I couldn’t read or write the same way and my memory was shot. I found myself walking into a men’s bathroom for almost everyday for a year. My brain couldn’t process a sign on a door that read: Men’s Room. I lost my jobs working as a journalist and had no choice but to move home temporarily so my parents could take care of me. There wasn’t much I could do for weeks aside from lay in bed with my eyes closed and pray for healing. This was a hard pill to swallow for my type A personality. Before my illness, I enjoyed working long hours and hated to go a day without a cardio workout.

The first day I was able to make it back to the gym I did a StairMaster for about twenty minutes. I climbed it slower than an elderly person moves with a walker. I had to go slow in order to keep my head as still as possible since my brain was still swollen with lesions on it. I’m sure I looked ridiculous climbing in slow motion, but I’ll never forget the gratitude I felt in that moment. I thanked God because even though I could barely move, I was still moving and I still had all my body parts.

My body and brain continued to heal over the next year at an extremely slow pace.  However, the closer my one-year anniversary came, I began suffering from a whole new set of symptoms such as: nightmares, night sweats, anxiety, depression, insomnia and extreme fatigue. I exhibited strange behavior in my sleep such as ripping out my hair and both my finger and toenails. My doctors informed me that I was suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder. Since the anniversary of the worst day of my life was approaching, I was flooded with horrible memories that tortured me in both my conscious and subconscious states.

I felt like I had once again lost control of my body. However, I could control how I would spend October 8, 2013. I decided that I would make sure that day would be fantastic by doing something I was unable to physically do that same day a year prior. It would not be a day that I would feel sorry for myself. It would not be a day that I would cry or turn to booze and drink my sorrows away. It would be a day of celebration at how far I had come in my recovery. And most importantly, it would be a day of gratitude that I was still alive.

I decided that I would surf that day. I began taking private surf lessons three years earlier, and I wasn’t able to surf when I was extremely ill. Surfing is one of my favorite activities. I’m an average surfer, and I’ve never gone a lesson without falling at least a couple times. On October 8, 2013, I still struggled with balance issues from my neurological problems, but I was determined to get on that board and have the best lesson of my life. When my instructor and I first stepped into the ocean, I felt my whole body go numb. The Pacific Ocean was freezing. All I wanted to do was run back to my car and ditch the lesson. But I didn’t. I embraced the cold ocean water against my skin because the year before I didn’t know if I’d ever be back in my beloved Pacific Ocean with my surfboard again. I was grateful to feel the blistering cold water pinch my skin. I proceeded with my lesson, and against all odds, I had my first perfect surf lesson of my life. I didn’t fall once. My instructor and I were blown away.

Fast forward to October 8, 2014. I decided to spend this anniversary taking a trapeze lesson. I’ve always wanted to try this even though I have a small fear of heights. At this time, my body was in better physical shape but I still suffered from neurological issues everyday. But, I was determined to swing from the trapeze like one of the Cirque de Soleil stars I’ve seen in Vegas.

At the trapeze school I went to, the general rule is that you can’t try a catch till your second lesson. In your first lesson, the goal is to get you to hang upside down and swing from the trapeze. But I wanted to do the catch. When I first climbed the stairs to the platform overlooking the Pacific Ocean at the trapeze school on the Santa Monica pier, the fear started to kick in. I had to remind myself that two years prior, I literally stared death in the eye and this was nothing compared to what I’d been through. I took a deep breath and a leap of faith and managed to hang upside down on my first attempt. It wasn’t perfect but I did it. Toward the end of my lesson I convinced my instructors to allow me to try that catch. This is when you swing upside down from the trapeze and grab onto another acrobat, let go and swing from their trapeze gripping onto their arms. I was scared out of my mind, but again, I kept reminding myself of what I had survived. On my first attempt, I let go of all the fear and nailed the catch. I was so overwhelmed with emotion that my eyes filled with tears of joy. I had flashbacks to the day two years before when I was in so much pain and unsure of my future in the emergency room at a Los Angeles hospital. But, look at how far I had come.

To this day, I’ve never had a perfect surf lesson and I’m still amazed that I completed the catch on my first attempt at trapeze school. Sometimes I wonder if I had a little help from above on those anniversaries or maybe it’s the extra confidence and belief I had in myself those days that produced two small miracles.

For me, I like to do a physical activity on my meningitis anniversary since I was unable to do any kind of physical activity when I was ill. My mom hates that I do an extreme sport on that day and asked, “Can’t you go to a spa?” Sorry mom, but no. I like to test the limits of my physical body that day since I was so physically impaired when I was ill. That’s my way of reminding myself that I’m still alive and kicking.

To turn a day of dread into a day of celebration, you don’t have to do an extreme sport or something that costs money. If you’ve lost a loved one on that day, do something that you enjoyed doing with that loved one. Do an activity you two loved to do together or maybe an activity you had planned to do together. Run a marathon, take a walk in the forest, pick up a new hobby, take a road trip or face a fear. Don’t drink, don’t do drugs or anything destructive. Do something positive and healthy to ensure it’s a happy day. Or do something for someone else in need on that day. Visit a veteran’s hospital or volunteer at an animal or women’s shelter. To help another person will never make you feel anything but good. If you need to cry, allow yourself time to cry the day before or the day after but not that day. After all, if your day of dread is the day you lost a loved one, your loved one would never want you to be sad on that day or any day for that matter. Give yourself the gift of freedom from the pain for that day.

On my first anniversary I walked on water. On my second anniversary, I learned to fly. Next year, I might just shoot for the moon.

I’m pleased to announce that I started working as a contributor with Elite Daily.  I wrote about how I dated and found love with an STD for my first article.  Read it here!

My boyfriend is one of the few people who has read my soon-to-be published manuscript.  He kindly wrote a review for my novel today.  Here it is:

I recently had the privilege to become one of the few people given the opportunity to read the Malice manuscript.  My short attention span has prevented me from finishing books in the past or to skip sections if I find myself bored during a read.  Malice kept my attention by chronicling the complex layers of Lana Burke’s professional and personal life.  The story shows Lana, the successful journalist, working tirelessly to break a bombshell story that could change the course of American history, all presented through the lens of her romantic relationship with a sociopath named Malden Murphy.

Malice was like experiencing a tasty buffet with so much to choose from making it difficult to put down.  I loved the journalistic political drama softened by the occasional diet of celebrity gossip to the suspense of not knowing where Lana’s tumultuous relationship would end.  I felt like a voyeur – hanging on to the author’s every word describing Lana’s uncharacteristic sex life; revealing Malden’s strange sexual fetishes that almost cost Lana her life.

If it was the author’s intention to demonstrate that evil exists than Malice unequivocally delivers. From corrupt politicians to outrageous coworkers to the people we love, Malice is a sobering lesson that teaches us that there are people in all of our lives that we think we can count on that are capable of exploiting us on unspeakable levels.

~David Hennessey

I met Billy Corgan over a decade ago when I covered an event for my column in the RedEye Edition of the Chicago Tribune in the Windy City. At the party, I approached the rock star and told him that his Smashing Pumpkins song Today is one of my favorite songs. I went on to say that whenever I hear that song I always seem to have a great day. Billy gave me a strange look and told me that when he wrote that song he was suicidal. His dark statement took me aback. After all, the first line in the song is: “Today is the greatest day I’ve ever known.” Our exchange left me confused.

His statement haunted me for years. I couldn’t comprehend what message he was trying to convey. At the time I met Billy, I had lead a very blessed and charmed life and hadn’t faced any real trauma.

Then on October 8, 2012, I found myself clinging on to dear life as I battled meningitis at Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles. Doctors later concluded that I had herpes-meningitis that progressed to meningoencephalitis. The pain I felt from the disease was so unbearable that I couldn’t sit up in a chair for weeks even on powerful painkillers without experiencing excruciating pain from my swollen brain. My doctors weren’t sure if I would recover and they didn’t know how much longer I would suffer. I had never felt so alone in my life.  At the time, I did not know anyone else with my disease. I couldn’t find any support groups for people with herpes-meningitis and meningoencephalitis.  Continue reading →

I’m humbled and honored that I was invited to Richard Branson’s exclusive leadership event on his private island for people he believes are changing the world.  It’s nice to be recognized for the work I’m doing to spread awareness about STDs and sexual assaults by someone so inspirational!

I got recruited to be on Utopia because they were looking to cast a conservative Republican.  However, during my interview I told the producer about my health problems and she said the doctors for the show would most likely not approve me as a cast member due to my medical condition. It’s just another example of an opportunity I couldn’t take because of the sexual assault my ex committed against me. With that said, I couldn’t be happier to have watched the season premiere in Canada with an amazing man!

In October 2012, tabloid journalist Lana Burke had a scoop so explosive involving Republican presidential nominee Governor Prescott Richards’ tawdry affair with a prostitute; it could’ve altered the outcome of the election. The lifelong conservative Republican finds herself extremely conflicted covering a sex scandal involving potentially the nation’s first Mormon President. The juicy assignment takes Lana on a wild and dangerous adventure from a desert town filled with sleazy brothels to quiet, Mormon-filled Salt Lake City. Lana’s millionaire boyfriend’s love and support gives her strength during her roller coaster assignment–until her entire world suddenly collapses. Just weeks before the election and days before her deadline, Lana’s scoop is thwarted when she finds herself in a hospital emergency room battling a life-threatening case of meningitis. Lana spends the next few months in rehabilitation and unable to work. Baffled about how she could’ve contracted such a strange, often fatal disease, Lana decided to use her award-winning investigative skills to solve the mystery of her illness. The shocking dark, sexually deviant secrets she uncovered opens her eyes to a grim reality she never could’ve imagined–even in her wildest dreams. Ironically, Lana’s life becomes a worse nightmare than any salacious story she had covered in her ten-year career in the crazy, upside down world of tabloid journalism.