Valentine’s Day 2024 is probably some folks’ anniversary, but for Living-Las-Vegas.com, it is a 20th anniversary.
Living-Las-Vegas.com was founded by local author and editor, Megan Edwards, in 2004 who started writing and posting articles about what it’s actually like to live and work in the only major US city to have been founded in the Twentieth Century. Over the course of the last 20 years, more than 25 other local writers joined her and have contributed 2,353 articles. The company that owns Living-Las-Vegas.com also publishes RoadTripAmerica.com (founded in 1996), Imbrifex Books (2016), BaseCampGuides (2016) ScenicSideTrips.com (2017) and TheLocalAngler.com (2018), and a couple dozen other web sites related to hiking, fishing, and road trip guidebooks. Living-Las-Vegas maintains an active and up-to-the-moment list of what casino properties own the resort hotels and casinos found in Las Vegas.
I joined the writing team in 2009. And thus far, LLV has published 747 of my articles covering local musical performers, conventions, and profiles of some of the interesting people who live and work here. I also have written a number of book reviews.
Most of my twenty five colleagues have either retired or gone on to other work, but I have loved hanging in and I still produce an article once a week and it is published on Sunday mornings. Links to articles written by the other 24 writers can be found here.
In addition to me, There are three (3) primary writers now. Cynthia Neelley Musco, Megan Edwards, and Vegas Di (my alter ego.) And links to all of my 747 articles can be found here, Plus the 58 Vegas Di articles that have been published. In addition to the writers, a part-time editor, Tom Herbertson, checks all of the links in the articles and attempts to keep everything fresh and working. And there are two IT specialists who ensure that spammers and others who would inflict harm on the site are prevented from damaging any articles or resource pages on the site.
The owners of Living-Las-Vegas, Megan Edwards and Mark Sedenquist, have given me the freedom to write a variety of articles, everything from articles about personal quirks to video tours of Las Vegas conventions.
Conventions are a particular interest of mine, having worked freelance for a convention magazine before coming to Living-Las-Vegas.
I also have appreciated, over the years, the regular readers of Living-Las-Vegas. Some folks made regular comments (thank you, Libby, Dorothy, Pat, Lois, Morgan and Aurora). Some folks simply let me know they are readers from comments after the fact (thank you Larry, Tom H, Ron and Tom M). Incidentally, because Tom Michel has been a regular reader of my column, I am now a volunteer for a project he is working on as one of the producers of the musical FOLLIES.
Throughout my time with Living-Las-Vegas.com I have been paid, not a fortune, but that money tells me even at my late age that I am still a professional writer.
Congratulations. Twenty years of Living-Las-Vegas (and almost 15 years with me) is quite an accomplishment.
Unfortunately, any group photos of all of the LLV alumni writers couldn’t be located in time for this article, but if you are curious, clicking on their bylines will open their bio pages and their headshots can be seen there, for example here is the one for Megan Edwards)
Awesome! So impressive! So happy for you, Diane, that you’ve found your niche at retirement.
V&J (S&C) hasn’t been the same since your retirement. May be biased but it’s true. Not as entertaining and educational anymore. Not a family magazine any longer. Mrs. Conrad’s legacy has ended. Oh well, all good things must end somehow.
So glad you got to continue applying your God-given gift of being a prolific writer. Thank you for sharing your gift with us.
Congrats to all! Keep it up – I enjoy it!
(Agree with Aurora about V&J since you have been retired).
I always look forward to reading your articles. They are a bright spot in the day. You are a good friend and fellow writer.
Congratulations, Diane! I love your articles and writing style. Informative, human and fun. Here’s to countless more adventures and stories about this city we love.
I always enjoy reading your articles. You have a great sense of humor and a wonderful writing skill. We do need to get together one day. Been a long time since our last visit. Course being on opposite ends of the valley don’t help. Congratulations on your success as Vegas Di.