Acquiring an identity for oneself is of utmost importance. My identity is first as God’s child. I am a Christian. He has a purpose for me, and as I learned through life lessons what it was, I answered my calling – I am a writer. When I first started writing, I was single and my maiden name was Jennifer Jeffrey. I used Jen Jeffrey as my pen name – it was my identity. My brother-in-law is a successful web designer and he built a website for me. I was able to have the domain be my name. At that time nobody else had it! I felt very lucky.
As a new writer, I searched to see if any of my writing showed up on the web, and I found a writer who lived in California with my name. She went by Jennifer Jeffrey. She was young and beautiful, had a blonde, pixie-cut hairstyle, and looked very professional. I noticed people called her Jen and I was afraid if I ever let go of my domain, I would lose it to her if she ever decided to change her name to Jen Jeffrey. Even when I took a sabbatical from writing, I kept my domain.
I have enjoyed being Jen Jeffrey and having my website be my name. Even when I married, my husband told me it did not bother him if I kept my name. I was never given a middle name, so I would keep Jeffrey as my middle name. I still wrote under Jen Jeffrey, but the more I wrote about the blessing God gave me in Jason, the more I wanted to change my pen name to add my new identity as his wife. When I sent articles to be published adding Billington to Jen Jeffrey, readers could still find me. And, I still had my Jen Jeffrey website.
After much research, reading, and studying, the transition from writing AP style to book writing, merits a new name. Jen Jeffrey wrote hundreds of articles over the last eleven years for a news publication, and for magazines, but she is becoming an author of books.
Therefore, my website should change. Most author websites are simple and to the point. It serves as a platform for their books to be sold. My website has been fun with various content that fit whatever writing hat I put on, whether I wrote profile pieces on people I had interviewed, or whether I was blogging or putting up photos. When my mom died and I didn’t write for a while, I couldn’t seem to get my niche again. This website has not been consistent.
As I thought about revamping it to fit book writing, I toyed with it and even created a place to put “my books.” How does one add a section for books by the author when one is in the process of publishing their first book? I found photo books, that I had created with printing companies. They were my photos, and yes I wrote them, but they weren’t published books to sell. I needed to see what it would look like.
Since I hadn’t written consistently these last few years, I doubted people were following me on this website, so I could play around with it a little. But now it’s time to get serious.
Now that I am ready to let my Jen Jeffrey domain go, and use my author name, I plan to chuck this website and start fresh. If there are any readers who would like to follow me, you can follow my Jen Jeffrey Facebook page until I have a new website up and running. Thanks for your patience. I will be more committed to providing content more often than I have on this website.
Jen Jeffrey Billington – author, will have a new address soon. jenjeffreybillington.com
Thanks for reading!