As I understand it, an agent interested in my query might very well check out my web presence before deciding whether to request a full or otherwise encourage a working relationship. Unfortunately, there is another writer with my same name in my same state who is all over the web with both lousy poetry and in-your-face political views that are (to say the least) not mine. I'd love for the agents I'm querying to know this person is not me, but including a line in my query distancing myself from her seems incredibly tacky. How much of a problem is this, really, and what can I do about it?
When I google a writer, I use the link you provide.
For you that would be:
Thank you for your time and consideration,
Bonnie Bestseller
BonnieBestseller.net
I do not type your name into The Google to see what comes up.
I'm not interested in finding out how many Bonnies there are; I'm interested in you.
The fewer Bonnies I have to sort through to find you, my Bonnie, the better.
Given that your surname is an exact match to this other, lesser Bonnie, you can also include something underneath your website:
Thank you for your time and consideration,
Bonnie Bestseller
BonnieBestseller.net
(There are two BonnieBestsellers in Freedonia. I'm the .net. She's the .nuts)Now, there are other ways around this and the easiest one is to simply add a name to your author name.
BonnieNYTBestseller for example.
The reason my beloved client Stephanie Evans is Stephanie Jaye Evans?
The "other" Stephanie Evans was a stripper who'd appeared on Howard Stern doing things that I think may have actually required CGI special effects.
But even if I should stumble on the Other Lesser Bonnie instead of you The Right Bonnie, most likely I'd recognize that you are two separate people. Your query will be well written and enticing. Her website will not.
I've been at this long enough (as we all have) to understand that there are multiple people with the same name.
In fact, just recently I was preparing a list of comp titles for an author and came across a book by James Baldwin. The bio on Amazon linked this book to the James Baldwin who wrote Fire On the Mountain, but that seemed very odd to me, given the subject of the book being proposed as a comp. Sure enough, different authors. A little bit of research was all it took, but you'll notice: I knew to look.
One of my authors actually had a page on his website for the "other" guys with his name. It was pretty interesting. You might not want to do that if Other Bonnie is also a writer, and not a very good one, of course.
78 comments:
OMG FIRST COMMENT OF THE DAY! I can retire on my furry laurels.
It would be better if I had something relevant to say, but maybe later.
(There are two BonnieBestsellers in Freedonia. I'm the .net. She's the .nuts)
I LOVE that! And I think it's the perfect thing to put in your signature area. However, I agree, any agent who has been at this for more than a few days would know to look through the search results if they were inclined to search for you. If your query grabs the agent's attention in the first place, he/she will see by the writing that anyone else who shares your name and writes to post on the interwebs, doesn't write like you.
Now, you could have a really unique name, like mine, where there is only ever one when I google it regardless of the computer I use, but then you'd have to decide if you want to use a pseudonym anyway. I do, because I'm in hiding ;)
Phew. Finally. I problem that I will never have. I'm going to scurry back down into my woodland hole and have some nuts for breakfast.
My other doppelganger name guy is big into fly fishing...I was also into fly fishing thirty years ago. He seems like a nice version of me, so I might not delineate the difference.
Whatever gets you in to see the etchings, as it were.
Nice post, as usual.
Cheers curmudgeon Hank
I do like to google myself from time to time at the library computer, and I have yet to have someone other than myslef appear, since my name is not a common one. While this was definitely not a fun thing when I was growing up (difficult to pronounce correctly as being unusual) now I see that is definitely an advantage in the book biz.
But even if someone googles me, they won't find anything incriminating, at least so far
And to think, I thought, you hung out with hookers.
This is the very reason why I have 2Ns. The other Carolyn was a contortionist for Dan Quayle.
Times like this I'm thankful for a first name (and spelling) that hasn't been super popular for a few hundred years (except for dogs - I've met ten times the dogs named Lucy as people).
This is also why it's handy to keep a uniform avi photo on different platforms. Makes it easy to know you've got the right Janet Reid when it's a picture of a shark in the profile/about section.
I love the spelling of your name, Lucie. There is an artist running around the web with my name. Not me. Good thing I met the shark and know how to proceed. Did anyone turn on the coffee pot? I was up way past bedtime last night. So if this is totally incoherent, well...
Although my surname is astonishingly unique, I add my middle initial because I'm afraid an agent will find one of the other Colin Smiths out there and prefer him over me. ;)
As for "My Bonnie"--well, that made me think of Tony Sheridan and The Beat Brothers (AKA The Beatles). Before they were famous. Whatever happened to those Beatles? Rumor has it some record executive accidentally signed a quartet from Liverpool who happened to have the same name... :)
Every single time I read about name confusion on the internet, there's that time when I did my own Google search. Dare I bring up dead Donna Everhart, or convict Donna Everhart, complete with crazy a** mugshot?
Nah. That story's been done one time too many. But, as the OP has discovered, it's a big wide wonderful world and therefore, it's very simple but effective advice QOTKU gives.
OFF TOPIC - knocked out 3,500 words on the WIP yesterday.
There is another Amanda Capper out there, a couple of decades younger, singing country music in a lovely voice. No one will ever confuse us.
Lucie, I'm also blessed with an unusual first name. All my life I've only met three people with the same name, and two of them were relatives. I guess you and I don't have to worry about adding NYT as our middle names.
Donnaeve, congratulations on the word count! That must feel great. Keep it up!
There is a rich and fascinating variety of Diane Majors in the world; one has been with CNN for perhaps 20 years, three have at one point or another lived in my own town ... another happens to be a published author, working in fantasy. Her genre is not so completely alien to my own, histfic, that we might not be mistaken for one another once I get myself published.
But this is one of those times platform comes in. I am not a million-plus-followed account on Twitter, and my blog has 33 (thank you, Me, for following recently!!!) followers. But I've put a pretty definitive stamp on what presence DLM/DLMajor/Diane L. Major has. The other authorial Diane Major may have a different initial. She definitely has a different style; her web presence tends to be much more designed than mine, black backgrounds and evocative graphics nobody is likely to mistake for mine.
And my signature block has my blog and Twitter accounts, plus other goodies for those brave enough to get that far in reading my queries. Should I ever query again ...
Why anyone would NOT include their web presence in their sig block is the question I have. Easy peasy. Being an admin for 30 years now, I have a BIG issue with people who don't include info in a sig block; it's the simplest way to find folks, sometimes, if the company directory is not reliable. People who don't include contact info in an email baffle and enrage me.
BE FIND-ABLE. And start in your emails.
I have the opposite problem. If you google my legal name [not this one], you will find LOTS of sites where people complain about me. And yes, my legal name is sufficiently unusual that it really is me they are complaining about. This is because I am an attorney who evicts people for a living, and well, some people don't like that. Apparently, if you take some of these sites and complaints at face value, it was MY fault they stopped paying their rent or mortgage. I'm hoping an agent won't use that against me, but it is definitely a subject I'll have to discuss with any agent brave enough to offer to represent me.
In some little corner of the writing world, someone is opening this blog, reading that response and saying, "Oh, whew."
I think I love the "Don't worry about that" posts more than any. Writer minds can tangle easily and a little relief goes a long, long way.
I thought my name unique? Found another Lisa with my name. Lives on the east coast. Younger. Different career. Don't think we'll be mistaken for one another either.
Maybe I should attach .nut to my name. Might add more intrigue!
Or, maybe, I should just get more caffeine.
I'm named after my grandmother, and all through growing up and school, I never met anyone with my first name who spelled it the same way. I was the kid who could never find anything - those plastic mini-license plates, stickers, etc - with her name on it.
WOW! We're a successful bunch, the Jenny Cs of the world! A lawyer, an opthamologist, and a Wharton School grad. *Scurries back to writing cave to work on edits with the hope of adding NYT bestselling author to the list* Because why not shoot for the moon??
OP - I had my Twitter name below my contact info on my query so agents could find the right Jenny C without any trouble.
This is why Janet's earlier advice of all "writers should have a website," I am paraphrasing. If you email an agent then you should always include the url to your website. If You want "them" to know it's you, you have to give them the means to do that as quickly as possible. Nothing is as quick as the link at the end of your email.
I am lucky their is only one Jason Magnason in the world.
Cheers.
Donna, way to go on your WIP.
Colin, you will always be my favorite Colin Smith regardless of middle initial.
Jason, yes, Janet asks that we include our URL in our signature but with the linky stuff turned off. A lot of spam filters eat linky things. Someone can explain this better than me, but short answer is yes, include website URL in query signature.
According to the Great and Powerful Google, I am the only me in the whole wide world.
Clearly I need a secret identity.
The trouble is, Clark Kent is already taken.
Jason, this actually brings up a question I've had. I've noticed you sometimes post under another name, and though it is of course no skin off my nose, it does bring up the question of branding. It looks like you're definitely building the Jason M. brand, but I've been curious about the Jason V. ID that's popped up a few times. None of my business, so ignore me if you prefer!
I will say this, I've clicked on pretty much all the IDs here at the Reef, many times for those who post more than very rarely. It's good to see more of these IDs leading to blogs I can read and comment on. Some of you, I wish had more than just the Google ID page!
Elise: You are so kind! :D
Besides, why should I worry? Janet has my email address. She knows how to get hold of me. ("You have a list??!"--I'll never forget that. Still makes me laugh.) ;)
DLM My Alternate name is a dying brand. This name is the name I will for now and always be known for.
My name is so common I just changed it for writing. But that does sometimes annoy me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADgS_vMGgzY
Suffice it to say, I also find myself in the "unique name" camp.
Thanks, Mom and Dad! Totally makes the years of teasing in grade school worth it.
...That makes me sound more bitter than I actually am. I haven't had any tea yet today.
The name I've been using as commenter on various blogs comes from my initials: C.C.=SiSi in an effort to be clever years ago. My actual name is Cindy Crawford, same as the supermodel. If you Google my name, it's about page 100 before I show up.
Having the same name as someone famous can be a pain because even now cashiers, cable customer service reps on the phone, TSA agents, etc. all want to talk about my name. However, it's been helpful too. It's become my go-to icebreaker when I teach a new class or meet new people.
So far in my writing efforts I haven't really worried about sharing a name with a famous person, but as I get closer to the query stage it's moving up my list of Things to Fret About.
Ahhh web identities. I have decent knitting one (as in, if you google my name you get my knitwear designs). I'm slowly plotting out how to transition it, because I like the ID (which I recently switched here) and on Twitter.
I figure as I edit I'll have times when I need to do something else while the back burner simmers the luscious marrow out my story's broken bones, and I can work on the website then - moving the knitting content to one tab way at the back, re-wrtiing the Home/About Me tab to focus on my various writing. I have a lot of knitting tutorials that are quite popular, I would hate to take them away from my customers.
But website presence is a rabbit hole I don't want to peek into until I have story I intend to query. Especially now that I manage a large, complex website for my day job, it's much easier to work on webpages than to write (EDIT!) my novel. Procrastination is a sneaky devil.
That's why I have no url on my profile.
Dena,
I am no agent, but if I were, I would love to have a client who evicted people for a living. I would not like to have a whiny evictee as a client. You are the hero of your own story - I wouldn't worry about it.
Back in the dawn of time, at least as far as how this upcoming Presidential campaign counts time, someone using my name entered as one of the thousands of Republicans to battle Der Trump.
Maybe it is his name too but those who know me probably get more mileage out of it. There was the time a company who felt that I shunned them told the media I was in town. They claim they just used that common name but I know they laughed their tushies off. I hope they laugh all the way to bankruptcy but that is another story for another time.
Definitely find a way to stand out. Start with a great query and climb from there.
I'm fairly certain there are other people with my first and last name out there, but they don't seem to have much of a web presence outside of Facebook. 'Course, I don't have much of one either. My twitter account with my name is irreversibly tied up with auto-generated tweets about a browser game, and I've been mainly a lurker here because the blogs associated with this account are things from high school and best left in the past.
I, like Lucie, am a rarity in that most people with my first name are 20+ years older than I, although I had a friend in high school who was also named Peggy. We used to go around introducing ourselves by saying, "Hi! We're Peggy!"
When choosing a name for my son, it was quite a difficult proposition... there was a lot of googling involved! And I locked down his gmail account right after the ink dried on the birth certificate.
Googling character names can be fun, too, but I think that's mostly a form of procrastination... XD
And, to assert my nature as a woodland creature--what if you've finally found the perfect character name, but somebody else has found it first? I don't mean that I've got another Jack Reacher in my cast, or anything, but I do have an assassin who is referred to as the Huntress from time to time... not to be confused with the (several, actually) Huntress(es) from DC comics. :/
There's another writer with my name out there, and he's had some success with graphic novels. He published under the pen name James Axler for years before opting to return to his birth name. People have actually asked, are you the guy with the created worlds, buxom women,colorful explosions etc? I say "Nope." I like to think he's the fabulist and I'm the realist.
Here's the tag from my namesake's Rim of the World: "Reborn as neogods, an ancient race begins its final conquest." See, I would never think to write, or even think something like that, so we're good.
"Reborn as neogods, an ancient race begins its final conquest."
I nominate that as sub-header of the week! ;)
I am the only one of my kind. In some ways, that's a good thing though it was very hard growing up. In others, it's not like the fact that my stalker can find me easily if he looks. I have a pen name that I'm using, a mix of my mother's original idea for my first name and her middle name, so I'm pretty okay with that. And there aren't any others with my pen name either. As to the proverbial head shot that is the norm for author blogs, I think I'll use my dobes. They're cuter anyway ;)
Peggy, your character story reminded me how David Baldacci, no slouch in our world, created a character named John Puller who some might say is a tad (maybe two tads if that's allowed) similar to Jack Reacher.
That's about as thinly veiled as you get, so there's probably a good background story that people in the industry know. Was "people in the industry" a thinly veiled reference to someone who runs a blog in this neighborhood? Guilty.
Weathers isn't a terribly common name oddly enough. I never had much of a problem until I moved to Stillwater, OK where Dr. Julie Weathers was a professor at the college there. That didn't present much of a problem until I chose a new doctor who happened to be a partner to Dr. Julie Weathers' partner and I'd get odd comments like, "Your bone density test looks pretty good for someone who has smoked all her life."
"Uh, I've never smoked."
They got double careful about checking birth dates after that.
I did get one wrong prescription since we also used the same pharmacy and took the same medicine, but different dosages. They also got double careful after I pointed it out.
I have had one writer look me up on the net and remark, "Wow, you really look good in a bikini."
I wear an age appropriate bathing suit, so I, of course had to respond, "Oh, thank you."
Julie Weathers - age appropriate bathing suits are highly cultural. When my MIL (in her late 60s) heads to Brazil to escape the bitter northern CA winters, she buys the tiniest bikini she can find.
Her family never fails to tease her for dressing like a nun.
Apparently plus-size bikinis are a thing in Brazil, something that makes a lot of Americans uncomfortable.
I like swimsuit with the rickrack best. Which one is yours?
Lol Colin. My maiden name was Smith and I always added my middle name or initial to everything. I guess it stuck because it seems to still be part of my google ID, school ID, etc.
I can't recall if I still used my middle initial during that awkward stage in high school when I started spelling my name Jayme. Whether everybody thought I was having an identity crisis or not, none of my teachers ever said anything about it...
Googling my names now: a few international sports people, a spy who worked for the CIA, two murderers, a journalist, and some guy who works at an equity firm (whatever the heck that is). Sounds like my dopplegangers have lived some interesting tales.
QOTKU solves the problem, of course, by including your URL in your contact information. Just don't include too much crap. I had five links in my signature as the game company I write for asked us all to start including the various social media links in our signatures. When I add my site to that, it comes up to five links, which triggers some spam filters.
QOTKU sent me a note about spam filters after an email exchange. Oops.
I'd check out the names of your characters even if you make up the name. In fantasy there tend to be a lot of, "The wizard Baralalmai Xe'Ra mounted his battle dragon Thraweljenzeau and yelled, 'Giddyup!"
You might think your name is totally unique, but I can tell you from experience it might have a meaning in another language. In my case, my made up name meant, "singer or bard" in Thai. That was a happy coincidence because she was a singer, but it could have meant something bad.
If it doesn't come up in an internet search, you're probably safe. If it translates to a language where it's a problem, the publisher will address it.
Rachel,
The first swim suit is mine. I like the top.
I actually don't go near water. I think I was a witch in a previous life. That whole water chair thing cures you of the desire to swim.
Jason,
I am lucky their is only one Jason Magnason in the world.--
Not quite, but the other Jasons are interesting also. Sgt. Maj. Jason Magnason looks pretty darned good in that uniform.
I actually write for an environmental journal and they emailed me to ask if I was the spokesperson for the Oathkeepers, who has the same name as I do and lives in my state. So googling does happen!
I wouldn't know anything about this, as my name is singular.
Ahem.
I have written many a times about the BRUTALNESS of a common name. I curse my parents regularly. I have had payment snafus (another Jennifer Brown at college never paid her tuition on time), snubbed (not my me) lovers trying to find their one true Jennifer Brown, been detained at the customs simply because my name is so common (I was completely smug as those dogs sniffed me, because I hadn't gone near an illegal substance--until that dog nabbed my amazing Hungarian salami. I was devastated my common name forced me to forfeit my meat products!).
For writing purposes, I've added my middle initial, but even so, I must live with the fact I'm hard to find. So my url goes into every e-mail signature. And my kids? I married a man solely for his unique last name so my kids will never suffer as I did. (Okay, maybe I married him for a few other reasons, but the name is good one!)
Uh Julie I think you mean :
Sgt. Maj Jason Magnuson
I spell my name Jason Magnason
Cheers:-)
I'm lucky that I have a unique name too. There are only 5 people with my surname in the whole world, and I'm related to all of them. So I don't need to worry about getting confused with one of those less upstanding Kates out there…. The joys of having a recently made-up surname.
Ya know, I'm not so sure it's a good idea to be talking about how unique your name is in a room full of writers.
Hmmm... Lucie Larkindale... :D
Jason,
Yes, I apologize, google "corrected' the spelling for me. However, with a well known singer and writer Andri Magnason, the point is the chances of being the only one in the world is probably slim.
Regardless, time is better spent writing than wronging, and I apologize.
EM, thank you, I'm named after my grandma Lucy but my mom thought it was prettier with an 'ie'.
Colin, now I kinda hope someone writes a Lucie Larkindale into their story.
Only those who have read Catch 22 will know the true depths of my shame at my REAL real real real name ...
And if you don't catch that reference, Bad Reader! No Scooby Snack.
I suspect we will see a rash of MCs called Lucie or Celia with surnames like Larkindale and Magnason and our uniquely named writers will find themselves less unique. Huh, suddenly have an idea for tonight's Y story. Ah, yeah, laters. Forget all that gibberish about unique names. It doesn't matter. Include your website in your queries and agent will know who you are and who you are not.
Agent Awesome: Is that Larkindale as in Lucie Larkindale, the character in that novel by the late Colin Smith?
Kate: No, that's Kate Larkindale, as in the reason Mr. Smith is late.
:)
I welcome the Lucie revolution. Can't wait to buy a keychain/magnet/mug with my name on it. Childhood me will rejoice.
This is fun, the first notable Google returns for my name, is a suspected drug dealer who's on the run. After that I'm a priest, an attorney, a judge, a grocery store employee in Virgina who's won the lottery, east Lancashire's most wanted man, on the run in South Africa (I suspect the drug dealer again), a chronic stammer sufferer (actually, I did have a terrible stammer as a kid), an artist and a head coach. Meanwhile, the incredibly talented individual, envied by his peers and adored by women, seems to be missing from the list.
I'm pretty sure there aren't too many people with my name, but there is a girl about my age who's apparently the best volleyball player on the planet. At least, she's very well liked. My mother considered naming me Lessa (she was a big fan of McCaffrey), but she was convinced all the kids at my school would jokingly call me 'More-a," so she landed on Bethany.
Going back to Peggy's question - I think genre matters with character names. "The Huntress" is used in more than just comics, so I'd imagine you're probably fine. Unless you're writing about a superhero in an earth-like world, that is :)
Julie Weathers, the only age appropriate bathing suit I'd wear is a turtleneck full length.
Lucie, careful what you wish for. I already have a precocious little girl in Rain Crow named Lucille at the boarding school. She could easily be Lucie Larkindale.
I'm named after my grandmother Julia Marie. Grandma was always incensed that they called me Julie.
As I said before, it would be very difficult to have a truly unique name. One of my writing cohorts changed the name of her MC after a YA author with the same name became. She writes fantasy and made up the name.
I would worry less with having a unique name and more with being the one everyone thinks of when they hear your name.
Adid
Try growing up as Joe Snoe,
or, worse, being a grownup as Joe Snoe, (Joe Snoe, CPA)
or, worse, meeting a woman in a bar or at a party and telling her your name is Joe Snoe (leads to highly repetitious conversations).
But I like it as a writer (except at conferences where the check-in people can't comprehend it's my name)
Julie
I wear age appropriate swimsuits - only not my age, and I bought them when I was 40 pounds lighter (but the same height)
I signed up for Google Alerts on my writer name, way back when, and got a TON of hits. They were all for mentions of Kevin Durant (KD) and LeBron James. I think it would be hilarious if they did the same and got mentions of me.
Joe Snoe—
I quite like your name. And luckily it's not as bad as some others I've seen.
Years ago, when I worked as a camp counselor I met a kid named Shithead.
Yes, y'all are reading that right. You're also pronouncing it wrong.
Rhymes with lemonade. Shuh-thayed.
More beer please. I can't make Shithead rhyme with lemonade - even with the phonic help of Shuh-thayed. My eyes disobey.
I'm lucky. My last name is fairly rare - I'm probably related to all the Muntains out there. I don't know who changed our name from the common Romanian to what it is now, but the only ones by that name in Europe are Ukranian (we're from Bukovina, which straddles Ukraine and Romania, and has gone back and forth over that border in the last 100 years or so.)
There's only one person with that name who has the same first name I do, and I don't know if that person still uses that last name. They may have had some trouble with US law, because I often have to verify my middle name when dealing with American companies. Thank goodness I have a different middle name!
But if you search for BJ Muntain, that's me. There's only one of me. Sorry.
Colin: There's a fellow in a Facebook author group I follow whose name is the same as yours. I had to check out his Facebook page to make sure - but he's still in the UK. He's also older than you are. But he writes Fantasy, I think, or Science Fiction.
BJ: If he's active on FB, then he's not me. I do have a FB page, but I only "friend" people I know IRL. And I'm rarely on. When I do get on FB, it's because I need to talk to someone who only uses FB, or I'm checking Janet's page. :)
we're from Bukovina, which straddles Ukraine and Romania
Holy crap, BJ, that's where my grandfather's from. I'm not sure I've ever encountered anyone else with history there.
Donna— Unfortunately, more beer doesn't make it any easier. But I'm never averse to sharing. *hands Donna her alcohol of choice*
Alright. This is my 3rd post. I'm signing off.
My husband's father is from Pecica, pronounced ˈpet͡ʃʲ.ka in Romanian which is a small town in Arad County in Romania. Small world. :)
Totally off topic. Someone commented on a post I made about a friend, Zach Recht, who wrote the Plague of the Dead series. Zach died shortly before the final book went to the publisher.
Today I got the comment and it reminded me how important Zach had been when I started writing fantasy. If I'm ever published, I want to acknowledge him. I haven't thought about him in a while.
I'd suggest to all of us to keep a list of people who help make the book a reality. And get their names right, it's not Janet Reed. Which makes me wonder how many times Miss Janet has appeared in acknowledgments.
A former student's last name was Ispharding pronounced the worst way possible. I blanched every time I called on him but he and his classmates were so used to the name no one seem to mind it.
Cheryl, I run a Yahoo group e-mail list for genealogical searchers who have an interest in Bukovina. Lots of descendents of Bukovinans here in Western Canada - and in Kansas, and in Brazil, and elsewhere. :) If you're interested, let me know - bjmuntain at sasktel dot net.
Nightsmusic: It really is a small world. :)
Like KD James, I've got a Google Alert for my name. And in my occasional Google searches for 'Ceridwyn Bloxham' - there still is only one of me on the face of the Earth. And I'm okay with that.
I'm still planning to publish under 'K.Ridwyn' though. Because it's easier!
There are tons of Heidis in the US. I grew up with several. (I hear it's awfully popular in Germany too.)
Then I moved to Australia where I'm the only one. It's like no Aussie has ever heard of the name.
"What's your name?"
"Heidi."
"Oh, Haley."
"No, Heidi."
"Huh. That's an unusual name."
Is it? The rest of the world would disagree, except maybe Cambodia.
"Were you named after the book?"
"No. I was named after the cat." (True story. I have a daughter who's also named after the cat and look forward to a grandson named Basil.)
Anyhow, the combination of Heidi with my maiden name or my married name is rare either way. Google me, and I'm pretty much the first ten pages.
I do like my name. Heidi Kneale means 'Noble Champion'.
Do you know what your name means?
P.S.: I wasn't given a middle name at birth, so I had to steal one. Growing up I was nicknamed "Lucille" after several grandmothers. It always got shortened to "Loose-wheel". I've claimed it, so it's mine, and it adds extra-awesomeness to my name meaning in the form of "Noble White Champion of Light." Now that's a dragonslayer's name if ever I heard one.
Heidi: My first and last name are conflicting place names. My middle name means 'cheerful.' I should go looking for Snow White now...
I'm Pink's mother!! Or as it's sometimes spelled, P!nk. I should have used that to get backstage when I saw her a couple of years ago. So proud of my "daughter." What a talent.
CarolyNN said:
"...The other Carolyn was..."
There are only two of you? Like Sith?
There are not too many of me around, and as far as I can tell I am the only one ever active on social media, the web, newsgroups, etc. But hey, I've been weird my whole life.
I've been active on the net for years, since back when you hooked a modem to your phone line and dialed into a system. (I didn't even have a computer at home, at first, just a terminal). So some really, really old stuff pops up now and again.
A lot of my early, throwaway writing is out in there, but thankfully not that easy to find unless you know how to look.
Back to the *real* original topic, I wouldn't want an agent who couldn't tell the Balinese stripper with a wooden nose and bionic butt cheeks doing poetry slams calling dragons "Satan's fluffy minions" wasn't me.
AJ Blythe is my pen name (there are at least 3 others in town with my real name). I chose Blythe as homage to LM Montgomery, because my middle name is Joy, and because there didn't seem to be many others in the cyber world. I got a friend to google pen-name me and I seem to come up first.
I haven't come across many Anita's in my lifetime, but I did go to school with another Anita Joy. We also shared the same birthday but in different years.
Her Grace, there is a published Heidi in Australia (Heidi Catherine).
Celia - I have a cousin with that name =)
This is completely off topic, but I'm too groggy and exhausted to care.
I DID IT. I just posted the last entry and finished the stupid A to Z thing with all 26 (stops to count letters), yes, 26 posts and a grand total of 40,196 words of story. Where else could I share that and have people understand?
What an epic feat of sheer something-or-other this has been. It's like the writerly version of a bunch of guys sitting around drinking too much beer and suddenly one of them gets up, staggering, and says, "Hey, y'all, watch this!" And ends up in the ER. Only I can't even blame alcohol, I was completely sober when I decided this was a good idea.
I expect one of you all to stop me next time. If there is a next time. Which there won't be. *falls over dead*
YAY KD! And that story is awesome! You will definitely write another one for next year's AtoZ. Otherwise you will be disappointing your legions of adoring fans........
Congrats for meeting the challenge KD! Good luck next year!
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