Many of you new to my world may not know a teeny secret about me: I’ve been an avid blogger with a decent following since 2006. And when I say decent I don’t mean hundreds of thousands–please, if that were the case I would have started a YouTube channel and sat back to collect those fat checks years ago. No, not that big of a following, but enough that if you were to mention The Jaded NYer to someone who’s an OG blogger like myself, they’d know of me. It’s all fun and games, though, until you’re introduced as “Jaded” at a party.
However, when I started this site–what I consider my super-serious writing site–I wanted to leave Jaded out of it. Not hide her per se, but not really advertise her, either. I wasn’t about to do away with that persona, but I didn’t feel she had a place in my new site. You see, Jaded doesn’t have a filter. She curses like a sailor and takes liberties with people’s feelings. I wasn’t a hundred percent sure I wanted potential agents, publishers, or venues to see that. So I just sat Jaded down and explained that we might not be spending any time together for a bit. She was cool with it; she’s too much of a thug to show her true emotions anyway.
But Jaded is the mastermind behind everything I do and every idea that’s come to fruition. She’s kind of in charge. And when I finally incorporate Jaded Empire Media, she’s going to be the one with the big corner office.
Fast forward to last week: I’m spending time with my bestie (who’s visiting from Chicago) and he articulates what I’ve been trying to explain to my branding advisers all along (I was told to do away with the other site and just bring over all 1800+ blog posts over here): Jaded is here to stay, but she’s not coming over to this site. She’s going to stay in her own house, even if I never visit there again. That’s how a lot of folks know me. That’s my brand. And when I get serious and publish a real novel and am ready to market it, it’s Jaded’s fans that will be there waiting for the news. It’s OK if we don’t all live together, we can still make this work. We always do.
All that to say, Hi, my name is Raquel I. Penzo and YES, I am also The Jaded NYer. Nice to meet you.
xoxo,
Raquel Ivelisse