Pen Names

I have been researching pen names this week.

There are good reasons for using a pen name. Some people want to protect their real identity from crazy fans. Others might want to protect their families from embarrassment.

I don't use one for this blog, nor will I for my mainstream and young adult novels. But there are other subjects I may write about that I don't want people to associate with these family friendly books.

I had the perfect "nom de plume". I had used it with a writing partner in the past. Good thing I never purchased the domain name. I was about to when I decided to do another name search. Sadly, it turns out there was already a writer with the same name! What are the odds?

Although I found some good suggestions (use name generators, list keywords in your genre, search family tree, etc.), in the end I simply mixed up a couple names of my favorite romance novel characters. Luckily the name, and all its variations did not exist. I was shocked, but happy. I am going to buy the domain name and just sit with it for a bit to make sure I love it.

I will not tell you what that name is. That might change one day. For now I will maintain a little mystery.