I’ve had this idea for a while now, but it really got stuck in my head last year when I was thisclose to a publishing deal. See, I haven’t decided whether or not I’ll write under my real name (which is associated with my book blog and has been for some time), or if I want to write under a pen name (you’d think naming yourself would be easy. You would be wrong). And because my book blog has a rather large following, I always knew that I’d want to promote whatever I publish professionally to those readers. I’m not going to kid myself: I know that many of those readers won’t give a fig if I publish a book, and those that do may not like my genre. That’s cool. But there will be those who WILL want to follow my career, and I wanted to find a way to promote myself as a writer to THEM while also distancing myself from the book blog (in the event I publish under a pen name).

The idea, then, was simple: to create a blog that would transition me from book blogger to full-time author (whatever name I decide to publish under). Hence, “Calico in Transition.” If you know my book blog, the title makes sense. If you don’t, a few minutes on Google will tell you everything you need to know.

So for now, I’m in transition: not just from book blogger to professional writer, but in life in general. Trying to figure out if my Day!Job is the Forever!Job. Trying to figure out if I even want to become a professional writer, because I’ve been following the field for a long time, and there’s a lot out there that scares me. I’ll talk about anything and everything, including some of the topics I’d discuss at my book blog.

But one thing I won’t talk about: the book blog by name. I also won’t name myself because as I said before, this blog is meant to be a cushion between one thing and another, and I still haven’t decided what I want to name myself yet. I ask those that know me personally (or from the book blog) to refrain from calling me anything but Calico. It may be a futile gesture (and really, there’s no such thing as anonymity on the internet), but if possible, I’d like to dissociate my real name from this blog, so that if I one day launch an author blog, I can promote it HERE my real name being attached to the pen name.

Clear as mud? Good. This in and of itself is an experiment, a way to get me writing about other things that book reviews, a chance to loosen up, have fun, or be serious and reflect. If you’re on board, I’m glad to have you. If you’re not, that’s cool too.