Laura and the Ginger

Sometimes, being one person in two can be hard. Especially on social media. For a while now, I’ve struggled with being Laura versus the ginger. Obviously, being a ginger is something I identify with, but it’s hard to had two platforms with two different names.’

Last year, I tried to combine all my platforms into one account for each and didn’t like it, but that was because I was struggling with the idea of being just Laura. The Ginger is just my super awesome, kick ass, internet identity. And I’m not changing the blog name, I love Ginger & Co. I think it’s cool, but classy, which is something I strive to be every day.
Over the past few weeks, as I’ve sat down for interview after interview, having to explain how to say my lat name (it’s not said the way it’s spelled), I’ve realized I always hesitated to go by “Laura Toeniskoetter” because Toeniskoetter is hard to spell. Or I feel like it is, I mean, it’s not to me. But, I know it has to be because people in my life like to brag when they’ve memorized it.
Also, when I launch my book, how hard will that be to spell? Hard. Then I realized, too bad. If you can remember “Toen” and nothing else, you’ll still find me on Google, so win win? Right. Which is why, I realized, I have two and a half brands. For a long time, I had the author and the blogger. Those kind of merged within Ginger & Books, but then I realized, that’s still not a place where people who just want to read my book will go to. I wrote a post about that yesterday over there. As I get closer and closer to launching my book, I’ve realized I’ve needed a place just for those readers.
There’s always been a struggle internally to embrace that “author” title. So, now, I’m doing it. Social media is all changing, online, you’ll find me now at @authorlaurat. The old handles were a reflection of the blog and the “Ginger &” brand. But that’s not me. I want to be more personal on social media.
Nothing changes, you’ll still follow me, but I’m trying to embrace Laura the author online, not just the Ginger.