Saturday 6 November 2010

Pen Name

On Thursday I received an email stating that a short story submission I had made to an ezine had been accepted.

Yesterday I entered an online Fridayflash competition.

I've got a couple of short stories written up, that just need editing, that I am intending to enter into other writing competitions and I am also working on a novel, which I would hope, could possible make into the published world one far off day.

This got me to thinking.

I work in the public sector and the writing work and self publicising I am doing could potentially get me found by a google search, if people I come across in my day to day working life, decided to google me to see what they can find out. (Yes, this really could be a possibility) I absolutely do not want the two worlds to cross in any way, shape or form and want to keep my private life, just that, private. So with this train of thought, I've decided I need a pen name.

Now I just need to come up with of one. I think I would probably prefer to keep my own first name (Jane) and then assign myself a different Surname. It sounds easy enough, but it's not. I have no idea what to call myself. I mean, it's not every day you get to pick your own name is it?

Do my blog readers have any idea's or suggestions of what would go well with Jane? Or do you think I should go for a complete overhaul if I'm using a pen name anyway and change both first and surname?

Any suggestions are very much appreciated.

2 comments:

  1. I know all about this predicament. I have used an alias for the last five years.However, I'm still searchable under my real name. It's a worry sometimes - you know the kind of thing I'm talking about. Even twitter comments come up under my real name when I use a psuedonym.


    Good luck with the writing - whatever name you use ; )

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  2. Thanks Effie.

    Very bizarrely, I was talking at work today about the book I'm attempting to write and one of my colleagues actually said to me, "You know you're going to have to have a pen name don't you?"

    I think I'm going to have to get it sorted pretty quickly and set myself up an email etc.

    Your twitter account probably shows up as you have your real name on show as well as your pen name.

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