A New Plan and a New Blog

I'll be getting back to more from the Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop on Monday but in the meantime  I want to tell you about one tip I'm going to try on my own blog. 

In a session on 'building your brand', the speaker advised us to be consistance - always keep the same voice within our blogs and across whatever social media we may use.  She also said the voice had to be consistant with the purpose of the blog.  Well, that pulled me up short.  To be really honest, I started a blog to build an online presence because I hope to get a novel published someday and it's generally accepted that an author needs an online presence.  So far so good.  I rather enjoy blogging and I like to mix posts about writing with personal topics, general information, and lots of humor.  But I write mystery/suspence, and not the lighthearted kind. 

Uh oh.

So if someone is interested in my suspense novel and they check out my blog and hit a post I've written just for laughs, am I screwed in trouble?

I asked a couple of the workshop faculty and got some mixed responses.  The concensus was I might have a problem. So I'm going to try something of a workaround.  Starting next week - well, actually I started this week - I'm going to follow a new post schedule.  Mondays will be Mystery, Murder, and Manuscripts, where we'll talk about mystery (suspense, crime drama, etc.) or about writing or maybe about writing mysteries.  This will be my serious author day.  On Wednesday, I'm keeping Happy Hump Day.  Just because it's fun.  Friday will be For Everything Else.  Might be serious, might not. 

Okay, that's the plan.  What do you think? Seriously. I'd appreciate your feedback on this.


I also promised you a new blog.  Nope, not mine, but one I think pretty much everyone can benefit from.

Maria Zannini is lauching a blog titled Back to Basics which is tied to her excellent book series and Facebook page The Frugal Way.  As Maria describes it, Back to Basics is "more than frugal living or how to make a few extra bucks. It's about creating the Have-More life without donating a spleen."

Well, who can't use that? 

The official launch of Back to Basics is next Tuesday, although there are a couple warm up posts already in place.  While you're waiting, check out The Frugal Way which is loaded with links to great free stuff.  You need to Like this page.  And I hope you'll give Maria a great launch day on Tuesday - visit, follow, share, tweet, enjoy.  Make her day. 

One final note - I'm going to be away from my computer most of Friday so if you leave a comment - and please do - forgive me for not answering right away.  I'll also be late visiting everyone else's blogs, but I will get there.

Groaner of the Day:  (keeping it short, it's Friday)  This girl said she recognized me from the vegetarian club, but I'd never met herbivore

Welcome to my Brand New Blog

You made it!

That is, I'm guessing the only visitors I get today will be friends who have followed me over from my Linda Leszczuk blog.  Thanks for finding me.

I've learned a lot about moving from one blog to another in the last couple days.  Most of it the hard way.  Did you know you can export all your posts from one blog and import them into another?  Yup - they come right over.  Unfortunately, your template, graphics, formatting, and anything in your sidebars or widgets will not make the trip. 

You can bring along all the blogs you follow by uploading them to Google Reader and doing the export/import thing from there, which made me very happy because I didn't want to lose any of you.

But as you can tell from my almost empty Followers list (thank you, Maria!), I'm starting over at square one.  Please add your smiling face so I won't feel too lonely.

This blog is definitely a work in progress so please offer your comments and suggestions.  I won't mind a bit if you point out typos or glitches.  And please say hi, just so I know you were here.

One other thing, when you see my smiling face attached to a comment on your blog, please remember that it's me.  Leszczuk or Masterson, I'm still me.

And to prove it, here's your...

Groaner of the Day:  A man walks into a doctor's office and asks the doctor to inspect his leg. The man says, "Here, put your ear to my knee."

The doctor puts his ear to the man's knee and hears very faintly, "Come on, can I have five bucks, just five bucks?"

The doctor steps back in surprise and the man says, "I know, but it gets worse. Put your ear to my shin."

The doctor puts his ear to the man's shin and hears very faintly, "Come on, can I have ten bucks, just ten bucks?"

Once again, the doctor stands up, very perplexed. The man then says, "If that surprises you, put your ear to my ankle."

The doctor puts his ear to the man's ankle and hears oh so faintly, "Come on, can I have twenty bucks, just twenty bucks?"

The doctor then stands up and says, "Well, I can I make just one conclusion. Your leg is broke in three places."