My name has been an object of curiosity of late. Since the name I hyphenate is not my maiden name, my given middle name, nor my married name I've recently had a few gentle (and a few blatant) probes as to just where it came from. This was particularly true since I've had the pleasure of seeing and hearing from a host of friends with whom I attended elementary, junior high, high school, and college, not to mention Sunday school, church, Blue Birds, Campfire Girls, and ... well, you get my drift!
My pat answer is that I'm a writer, and it's the name I write under, which is true. But it goes a little deeper than that. The middle name once upon a time was my last name, and the majority of the people with whom I established my creative life, i.e., music, greeting cards, and poetry, knew me only by that name. So, when my life changed again years later (and I returned to my hometown) and I acquired another beautiful new last name the dilemma was whether to fore go the "good will" and recognizable credit I'd earned under that name or whether to hyphenate it for continuity. After long discuss with my then new spouse the decision to hyphenate was reached.
If I had it to do again, I probably wouldn't. It has been cumbersome and clumsy and I don't think the benefit has offset the lack of same. But it is certainly who I am now as a writer, except I may well begin to craft new works under a new pseudonym - maybe even my given name - yeah, I like the idea, feels right. Maybe I'll start on something new today!
1 comment:
As long as your loyal readers know where to find you, I'm all for the name evolutions. :O)
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