Greetings
Once again I find myself in a quandary. For some reason I feel a website needs a Welcome page, yet I have no idea what one says on such a page other than Welcome! Have a look around!” Which, if you’re reading the Welcome Page, you’re already doing.
To me, a Welcome Page is a little like the outgoing voice mail message. It’s a nicety, in a world where niceties are enjoying the same sad fate as polar bears and honey bees.
Technology has relieved most of us from the need for us to identity ourselves or report on our whereabouts in our outgoing voice mail message, and yet we do. Even though we could all just say “Not answering – d’oh!” or “Of course I hear my cell ringing but it’s buried at the bottom of my bag and I will never find it before it’s time for you to leave a message” or the rudest of all, offer no outgoing message at all, we do not . Or most of us don’t. We still feel compelled to say, “Hey, it’s Karen, I can’t take your call right now so leave a message and blahdee blahdee blahdee."
A Welcome Page also functions like the narrative you provide for a first time visitor who asks for a tour of your house. Like, they really need you to say, “This is the bathroom…This is the kitchen and look, that’s our fridge!”
I think I struggle with the necessary Welcome Page because, if we’re honest, what every writer is about on his/her Welcome Page is self-promotion. I am all for self-promotion. I have several delightful writer friends who have an inborn knack for saying, “Look what I’ve written. I think you’ll find it as amazing as I do. To show your support of me and my brilliance, please buy my books and help me climb that bestseller list.”
I always wonder – unless you’re the writer’s mother, why would you do this?
I’m rambling.
I’m disguising my discomfort by feints and asides.
For you see, I do not possess this knack. Indeed, soon I think there will be a certifiable psychological syndrome for people who are unable to self-brand, who continue to wander the earth doing stuff for which there’s no market, motto, sound bite, or YouTube-able moment.
However, what I can do is to say hello.
Hello.
There are a few new things at karenkarbo.com. Along with the basic info about my books and essays and whatnot, I’ve added a section about the writer’s life, since people seem intrigued about what it takes to be a writer (ability to sit for long hours staring at nothing; fundamentally unemployable), which also includes book recommendations and a section on the cool places I’m sent to for my non-fiction pieces. The Blogette is still around, as is the opportunity for you to sign up for my newsletter, which I rarely manage to send out.
Let’s see…what else…I guess it’s time just to say welcome.
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