What is my brand?

So, part of this author adventure is that my publisher assigns a publicist to help me get the word out about my new book (Pagan Curious — A Beginner’s Guide to Nature, Magic & Spirituality), which is really super because while I love to write, I hate hate hate to promote myself. I’m a fabulous cheerleader for most anyone else, and love to do whatever I can to help someone else succeed, but for myself? Well… gulp. That’s just uncomfortable.

I met my super cool new publicist, Markus, a couple weeks ago (and by “met,” I mean we did it pandemic style on Zoom), and in addition to pumping up my confidence and enthusiasm to birth this book out into the world, he gave me some homework, which included revamping this website. He kindly described what I’ve got going on here as “a little dated.” I couldn’t agree more. I’ve wanted to change it for a long time. Besides, the template for this website wasn’t designed for blogging — it was designed for restaurant use, and is set up for menus, not blogs, and therefore it’s quite difficult to make it perform like a blog site.

You might ask, “Why did you pick a template that wasn’t designed for blogging,” and I might answer, “Because I liked the pretty orange font on the headlines.” And therein you see why my technology adventures frequently blow up in my face.

I’ve been wanting to update this website for years, but the issue is that transferring all this content to a different template requires website skills that are above my pay grade. I know just enough about WordPress to ignite a big steaming pile of “Oh fuck, what have I done!” and no idea how to clean up the mess I’ve made. Been there, done that, had to hand the shovel to an expert.

Having blown up websites a few times and requiring expert assistance, I decided not to venture into this update myself. I want it to be a real website, and not just something I tinkered with and mashed together on my own. So, my buddy Sarah, Goddess of the Websites, is looking into refurbishing my little home on the internet. Stay tuned, it will hopefully look a lot different in a few weeks. Meanwhile, I need to work a few things out before we go “live.” At the top of that list is how to present myself. My “brand” as it were.

“Brand.”

Oh, I have bristled at both the word and concept for a long time. It just seems so unnatural and manufactured. I would prefer my brand to evolve naturally, as it did over my 26 years as an opinion columnist. Which it did. And that’s the problem. My columnist “brand” was to be balls out, fists up, and ready to throw a verbal hook punch at any moment. Kitty has claws, and she knows how to use them. But that’s “columnist me,” and since I launched onto the author’s path, I’ve distanced myself from that. I just got tired of the whole vibe. That brand doesn’t really work for me anymore. My books aren’t about politics, they fall more under the “helping, healing, happiness” umbrella, in the spirituality section — not the biting political commentary section.

It took a long while to detox from those many years of verbal cage fighting, and aside from very rare moments where I can’t resist the urge to comment on whatever political or social turbulence is boiling at the moment, I’ve kept it clean. Internally, I’ve made the transition from “fierce, fearless hellcat” to “peaceful, purring kittycat” quite nicely. I just don’t crave the buzz of verbal battle anymore. I used to eat it for breakfast. Now, I’d just hork it up like a hairball.

My challenge, and the source of my contemplation, is defining and shaping a brand that portrays who I am now, and how to present that on the updated website. That may confuse some folks who’ve been with me for a long time, but here’s the thing: I’m a Gemini, and “Peaceful, Purring Me” has always been there, just not so much in public. I mean, I’ve been a massage therapist almost as long as I was a newspaper editor and columnist, so that side has always been there. Just not in print. I used to have a sign on my wall at work: “51 percent sweetheart, 49 percent bitch — don’t push your luck.” Well, those percentages are probably more like a 70-30 sweetheart to bitch ratio now. I don’t need to have my claws out anymore, but every cat owner will confirm that even the most peaceful, loving kitty will shred you in a heartbeat if provoked.

So. Updating this website and my brand are linked together. Old brand: Hellcat. New brand… ??? Whatever that reveals itself to be, my goal is internal and external/public congruence (which, by the way, is a topic I cover in depth in “Pagan Curious”!) It feels like I have a lot of ingredients to mush together, hopefully into one cohesive ball: Horsey Girl. Longtime Pagan. Massage practitioner. Tarot enthusiast. Lover of nature and magickal energies and practices. I’ll be rolling that ball around in my hands and shaping it for the next few weeks, which is much more difficult than it sounds, mainly because of my resistance to it. I’d rather you just get to know me all over again, sort of like Gwen Stefani when she reintroduced herself this year and spiced up her career. Yeah, just like Gwen! Except I’m not nearly that hot, except in my own mind. Although I can karoake the shit outta “Just A Girl.”

So…. what will my new “brand” be? I’m not really sure, but going forward, I’ve decided I want to build people up, not shred them to pieces. I want to create things that inspire, enlighten, educate, and even simply entertain. And I’ll keep my claws retracted. Unless you try to shove me off the couch, and then it’s on.

New directions, and a new book too

So, it’s not like I haven’t been writing. I just haven’t been writing here.

From the looks of this blog, you might think I’ve been in outer space and just transmitted a post occasionally from across the universe. It’s not entirely incorrect — but I’ve journeyed to inner space, not outer space. I’ve been more focused on writing books than blogs, and to be honest, I think I’ve sort of lost my commentary mojo. It’s not that I don’t like writing anymore, it’s just that my interest in harping about politics has slowly rolled to a stop.

After nearly 30 years of writing columns, many of which were political in nature, I started to ponder what good any of the kvetching and bitching did. Did I change the world? Nope. It’s still spinning along without my help. Did I alter the course of anything? No. (Evidence: Hillary didn’t win.) Did I change minds? No. People who agree with you cheer, and people who don’t boo from the stands. I started wondering if it’s really worth the time and effort if all I’m really doing is pouring salty talk in open wounds.

When I survey the meager posts I’ve produced over the last couple years, well… aren’t I just a drag! What a Debbie Downer! To be fair, the last few years were also a drag, and there weren’t many lovely, uplifting things to write about. Well, commentary-wise, that is. Off screen, there are all sorts of things to write about! Horses, for example. I wrote a whole book about them, and their spiritual, evolutionary connection to humankind. “The Elements of Horse Spirit — The Magical Bond Between Humans and Horses” was published in June 2020 — right at the height of the covid pandemic, social justice protests, and the perpetual Trumpster dumpster fire. So, it was difficult to raise my little hand and say, “Hey… I have a super cool book out, and I’d love if you gave it a look!” So much for a splashy debut. My little ripple of accomplishment was lost in a raging sea of fear, anger, and relentless stress.

Oh yeah. Speaking of raging, there was a fire too, last year. (“A fire.” Understatement of the century.) The LNU Complex fire last August transformed this area into the Apocalypse. The whole world was burning down. So, it was nearly impossible for my little book to make an audible peep in the cacophony of the 2020 shitshow. But, this is 2021, and we’re moving on. Progress — both political and medical — is grinding forward. President Biden is the soothing salve our country’s third degree burns needed, and we’re slowing the spread of covid. Well, some of us are — the ones who are smart enough to get vaccinated. The rest? Well… I suppose natural selection will play out in real time. Get goddamned vaccinated, people!

OK. That’s as close as I’ll tiptoe toward social/political commentary, because I’m striving to change the trajectory of my writing. There’s a glut of writers out there already spewing a sea of opinion on what’s happening in our country and world, and frankly, do we really need one more? I don’t think so. Not that I won’t quip and quote here and there, but I have to be very careful, because abstaining from writing political/social commentary is like abstaining from alcohol. One little sip, and I’ll be passed out in an alley with an empty vodka bottle and a few stray cats.

What will I write about instead? Uplifting topics. Thoughtful topics. Helpful topics. In “Horse Spirit,” for example, yes, it’s about horses, but it’s more about how horses (even on a strictly abstract, spiritual, magical level) can change your life. They can inspire and strengthen you to achieve any goal. They are powerful spiritual allies. However, I didn’t rest my writing laurels on their strong backs. After finishing that book, I launched into a second: “Pagan Curious — A Beginner’s Guide to Nature, Magic & Spirituality.” I’m expecting it to be published in January, but it’s already got it’s own homepage on the Llewellyn Worldwide website, and you can preorder it right now! And, here’s a bonus! Every time someone buys one of my books, an angel has an orgasm! Come on… make an angel’s day… they have no genitalia, so they really appreciate it!

For those of you who’ve been with me for a really long time, like “newsprint” time, you may be even more surprised that I’m writing about Paganism than you are that I wrote about horses. I didn’t touch upon those topics much in print, but bear in mind that what I wrote about in print was like showing you the palm of my hand. That’s all I showed publicly. Little by little, I’m bringing the rest of me into the sunlight.

As for horses, they have enamored me since I took my first breath. I’m sure my first word wasn’t “mommy” or “daddy,” but “pony.” I grew up with horses, used to ride show jumpers, and my family was heavily involved in horse racing (a potential future book will be, “How to Go Bankrupt in One Year or Less: Get a Racehorse.”) I had a very long drought of horses — about 35 years — and returned to them in my 50s. It’s a pretty amazing story, and it changed my life. (It’s all in the book!)

As for Paganism, you probably caught glimpses of that here and there, and chalked it up to “Tree-Lovin’, Whale-Huggin’ Old Hippie.” True enough on the surface, but the story goes much deeper. Like my love of horses, I was always Pagan. I just didn’t have a vocabulary for it, or even know what it was on a conscious level, until my 40s. My thirsty search for a spiritual connection to nature and the Universe was quenched when I randomly toddled into a Pagan harvest festival. In screenwriting, they call this a “plot point” — where the entire story spins and takes off in another direction. That festival was the plot point of my life. Nothing was ever the same after that. Finally, I knew what I was, what I believed in, how I wanted to live. It was like that moment when Dorothy steps out of her black and white Kansas house in Oz, and discovers a world in full color.

So, how about you? Have you always wondered what those crystals are for, or what those strange symbols mean, or why that drum circle or the full moon calls to you? Why you can feel the sea or the forest? Why a certain animal keeps inexplicably appearing to you, or why particular herbs or oils make you feel better? Well, my friend, you just may be “Pagan Curious” too. Like my horse story, it’s all in the book!

But, back to this blog. I’m setting it on a new path, and keeping social and political commentary to a bare minimum. Humor? Yes! Inspiration? Yes! Just a random here’s-something-to-smile-about? Yes! More of that, less of the other! Because although I’ve discovered I can’t change the world… I might be able to lift it up a bit. The path ahead can be bright, if we choose it to be. Let’s walk it together.

*****

My second book, “Pagan Curious — A Beginner’s Guide to Nature, Magic & Spirituality,” is available for preorder on the Llewellyn Worldwide website: https://www.llewellyn.com/product.php?ean=9780738766539