I’ve been called incongruent, in so many words. And it’s true. I’m a bit of a sham. (See what I did there with the word “ham”? Feel free to play around with my prompt words as you wish.) Back on topic: how am I a sham?
Thing is, what you see of me here on my blog is the real me. You could probably recognize me in a crowd just by the way I speak and how I conduct myself, simply because you know me from here. But aside from my more comedic pieces of writing, I am not what I write, fiction-wise.
I tend toward the dark and twisted. Why? I have no idea, other than the fact that the human psyche and what we’re capable of truly fascinates me. I explore minds like one might venture into a house of horror at a fair: with no idea of what I’m getting into, but thrilled and scared of what I might find.
My upcoming novel is in line with this theme. And I have to promote it. But how, when I have all this happy going on?
I have two choices. To start all over again with an author blog, and with it, all the work that goes into gaining a following. This will be on top of my plan to start a professional site for my new editing business. OR (going back to the fiction thing) I can revamp my fiction blog, make a separate section for the lighthearted stuff, and make it all dark and gloomy, like my new book. Gloomy, but entertaining! Of course.
Or, here’s a crazy idea — write my darker stuff under a pseudonym.
I dunno. I have a hard time figuring out whether or not people could conceive of the idea that I can be me — as you see me here and know me — and still think of me as a Gothic paranormal romance/horror writer? I’m probably over-thinking it all. GAH! Stream of consciousness writing can go two ways: it can help us sort things out or help us tangle them up.
What do you think? Should I even change this blog into something darker? I’m thinking no. I need to be me somewhere.
This tangled mess of a post is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Click the following link and see how you, too, can join in the madness: https://lindaghill.com/2017/02/17/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-feb-1817/
lindaghill.com 
February 19, 2017 at 10:24 pm
Look forward to seeing the remodeling.
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February 19, 2017 at 7:45 pm
You gotta do you. That being said, you did ask for our advice…I love the “real you” on this blog. I bet I COULD pick you out in a store. My personal preference is not fiction, so I probably wouldn’t follow your other blog like I do this one, but that’s just my style. I’m sure whatever choice you make will be the right one:)
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February 19, 2017 at 6:38 am
I totally agree with John and Willow! 🙂
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February 19, 2017 at 2:12 am
Way too deep for the likes of me. I’m still stuck with trying to figure out the difference between “sham-poo” and “real poo.”
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February 18, 2017 at 11:52 pm
I hope you don’t change this blog too much, and it seems like you answered your question there at the end. I don’t usually like real dark stuff (except for dark chocolate) but a little glimpse into the darkness can be fun now and then. Someday I want to start another blog using a pseudonym so I don’t feel the need to restrict myself. I’m looking forward to that. Maybe I’ll have two Streams of Consciousness on Saturday, and one will flow much faster. 🙂
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February 18, 2017 at 11:06 pm
I think your blog should be whatever you want. Dark..light…whatever, I will tag along for the ride!
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February 18, 2017 at 10:59 pm
I was thinking something similar to Ritu (we seem to have that happen a lot!). The ability to link out pages means that you could have a dark and terrifyingly edgy page. People who want light and happy wouldn’t have to go there, but those of us who like an occasional-or-more trip to scary-land could find you. I’m not even sure you’d need to change the theme much here, unless you wanted to…I mean, “Life in Progress” pretty much covers it all (something I also love about “Lovely Chaos” because, I, too, am a fan of poking in other people’s heads.
The good thing about having it connected to this blog is that you could promote it here, and not lose any of your followers overall. My plan is to ultimately brand my WP blogs with my (non WP) website, so they’ll all direct to one another, and each will focus on a different facet of the Picasso portrait that is me…
I like knowing that I know you, Linda!
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February 18, 2017 at 8:59 pm
Keep this blog for you, and if you feel the need start another. We’ll follow you there.
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February 18, 2017 at 6:57 pm
The darker side of Linda *makes eerie noises* .. I guess it depends whether you want to throw yourself into starting up a new following with a psuedonym or maybe just branch off from this blog so you get the extra marketing/following from regular readers.
I have been playing with the idea of separate blogs myself for different types of writing but I’m not sure I have the time or audience to make it worth it but I think sometimes it’s just nice to be able to have different spaces for yourself to explore ( if this makes sense).
Either way please drop me a link if you decide on an alternative, I do so enjoy a bit of the darker side 😀
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February 18, 2017 at 6:25 pm
Comedy and tragedy, the light and the dark are part of all of us. I wouldn’t fragment your blog presence, you have a faithful following that would understand the dual nature of writing. I’ve seen it work here for others. Best wishes, no matter what you decide.
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February 18, 2017 at 3:27 pm
I don’t ever want you to change !!
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February 18, 2017 at 1:56 pm
I vote pseudonym 🙂 That way you have your true identity, and then an umbrella under that where you can keep all of the writing that you feel falls under a different aspect of yourself.
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February 18, 2017 at 1:12 pm
I think there are multiple sides to all of us and I’m pretty sure readers would be happy to see more than one side, that makes you who you are. Most of us would probably be curious enough to look at least once at what fiction you are writing. I’m still a newbie as far as the blogging goes but I would say you could just have a page dedicated to your writing on your main blog that would give teasers about the fiction you write and then have a link that could take people to that blog site, if they choose to.
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February 18, 2017 at 1:02 pm
I don’t really know about these things, but I like following people. Whole complete packages of people. To me, the fact that you can write fiction that is at odds with your daily outlook, just makes you an awesomer writer than I already think you are. Good luck figuring this out, Linda.
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February 18, 2017 at 12:28 pm
I have a fiction blog too! But haven’t looked into how to connect the two so people can view the other blog if they want to. Mine imagination is not dark and I have three stories started. So I’d be curious how to create that linkage to my other blog. I also have a photography blog. Now I wish I had put them all together, because it gets complicated for me. Too late now, it would be such a pain to go back and forth transferring all of that work, especially the photography to my main blog. I will have to check out your fiction blog.
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February 18, 2017 at 1:05 pm
I figured out how to link them. Just had to play around with it a bit. Very pleased now.
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February 18, 2017 at 11:32 am
Is there some reason why you think your readers can’t get the various aspects of you? (If that sounds snarky, it isn’t meant that way.) I don’t have a clue about authors, author’s blogs, marketing, and all of that. Neil Gaimon writes all sorts of weird, twisted stuff and yet his Facebook is Muppet-like, but maybe he’s established enough to get away with it. I *do* understand perhaps having both a personal and a professional online persona. I don’t think the professional needs to be dark, like the fiction, but I know if I wanted to promote the professional me (or my business), I would keep the two separate. Like, yeah, don’t think WTF Am I On About Now? is where I’d want to send clients. 😀 For me the personal blog would be anonymous, but you’ve kind of flown that bird already. I know I would follow your professional blog if you posted a link to it, and I think that most of your real followers would, too. If you are starting a site with your editing business, then can’t you incorporate a professional writing bit with that, instead of starting another whole new site just for the author? My least favorite idea is you writing under a pseudonym. It feels unnecessary and unnecessarily complicated.
Gee, that was wishy-washy and unhelpful, wasn’t it. :s
Btw, where does your Gravatar image come from?
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February 18, 2017 at 11:46 am
I’ve really come about this backwards, in regards to becoming a famous author (haha, like that’s going to happen). For instance, Stephen King. People know hm from his writing, and so they’ll soak up anything he puts out there, like the pictures of his dog he posts on FB. I think I’ve kept this place clean (in many aspects) enough to be taken seriously as a professional. I don’t know – as far as the fiction goes, it’s like showing your erotica to your mom. There’s the respectful public you and there’s the writer you, you know? I just think people get an overall picture of who we are, and then it’s a shock to find out what’s really going on in our heads. There’s a certain aspect of mind-reading in reading fiction.
Thank you for your comment. Not wishy-washy at all. It’s discussions like this that help me work things out. 🙂
My gravatar is a crop of a picture of a famous Japanese rock star standing behind a mannequin in a Santa hat. In the full photo he’s wearing a long black coat, a black hat, and a surgical mask. It’s really quite creepy.
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February 18, 2017 at 11:23 am
Ha, ha. All you really need is a “Not Linda” . Worked for me. I’ve never understood why Not CM got any followers, but she did, and many of them follower only the mirror blog, not both of them, despite the fact that Not CM posts so infrequently.
PS: I never realized you have a dark side. I’m looking forward to learning more about it.
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February 18, 2017 at 11:35 am
Not as much of a dark side, as a dark imagination. Hopefully if I do this right, I can entice you over to my fiction blog. 🙂
I don’t have near as many followers there – I think it’s mostly because my gravatar defaults to this blog. Don’t you find the same thing with your alternate blog?
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February 18, 2017 at 12:38 pm
I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve been in such a slump lately that I haven’t been checking the stats on either blog. It’s like I really don’t care any more. But I have noticed that the mirror blog has quite a few followers that do not follow the main blog, so Not CM must appeal to a particular audience that I can’t reach on my own. As for the gravatar, I have never figured out how to have separate gravatars for each blog, nor how to comment as each individual entity – everything comes up as me. I don’t know if that helps or hurts the readership of either blog, but as least no one can complaint that I’m not being honest (which, of course, was one of the issues when I first set the silly thing up).
In any event, Linda, I will follow any blog that you care to set up because I love the way you write, regardless of which venue you use.
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February 18, 2017 at 11:21 am
It’s a tough call Linda… I did toy with the idea of starting a separate blog for my ‘writing’ but it was just gonna be too much for me! This has worked fine for me. May be have a selection of pages which are ore Author based and a set which are your everyday blog pages!n Though I have no clue if this will work!
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February 18, 2017 at 11:30 am
It will! You’ve given me an idea… If you click on the heading at the top of this page, entitled “One Poor Boy,” it takes you to my fiction blog. I could do something with that. I may have to change themes here, but that’s not much of a difference.
Thank you, Ritu!! 😀
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February 18, 2017 at 11:31 am
I am so glad my clueless ramblings helped you somewhat Linda! Lol!
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February 18, 2017 at 11:32 am
Haha! You never know when you’re going to make a difference in someone’s life. 😀
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February 18, 2017 at 11:34 am
Lol!!! 😘😘
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