Genre Hopping? Good? Bad?

The discussion on a yahoo loop I follow deals with this very topic and prompted me to blog about it.  There is so much marketing hoopla these days to create a "brand" for yourself and stick with it, but...what about those of us who don't plot our stories or determine the genre?  I write what my characters dictate, and that has taken me in all different directions.

There's no doubt that I'd like be known as a famous western historical author, but when Cindy Johnson limped into my head and insisted I write Shortcomings for a YA audience, I couldn't refuse. Her message about bullying and how high school students mistreat those "different" than themselves packed quite a wallop.  When Hope Hastings, from Hope Springs Eternal, showed up, crying and distraught over the decisions she had to make as a middle aged woman, how could I deny her?  She was going through much of the angst I went through as a divorced woman.  Sarah had a journey to take and invited me along, and when Mariah commanded my attention, I couldn't stop laughing at the thought of two characters traveling through time and ending up with one another's husband.  I had to take that trip to see where it led.

To me, genre hopping is no big deal as long as you write each story to the best of your ability.  Chastity, Faith Ellie, Taylor and all the rest of my heroines shared stories with me that I couldn't deny writing.  I have no limitations thus I have a waiting room filled with heroines and heroes who will take me and my readers wherever their stories lead.

I think people might be surprised at how many authors do genre hop.  They just do it under different pen names.  One of the most prolific authors I respect, Madeline Baker, has written tons of western historical novels, but she also writes as Amanda Ashley and has penned a string of vampire hits.  Check out her website.
She doesn't need the promo from me, but I used her as an example because she was a role model for me when I first started writing.  Over the years, I've read the majority of her western historical novels and loved everyone of them.  I wish I had the nerve to approach her about reading one of mine and commenting to see if I did her proud.  *lol*

Since I do well to remember my own name, I'm steering clear of pen names.  I guess the point of this blog was to point out that I do genre hop, but I do it for very good reasons.  Maybe we should make this a dance.  We already have the "Bunny Hop." Let's do the "Genre Hop."