Changes

I pulled my photo.

I loved that picture. I mean seriously, you couldn’t have a more perfect for me picture. Maybe I’ll get to use it as an author pic someday (*snorts* no one would have such poor taste as to let my evil scientist picture be the picture on the jacket, I mean even I think I looked a little too excited about wearing the evil scientist goggles).

I also took down my email. If you need to get in contact just leave a comment with a user profile attached to an email. Sorry about that guys, but some smack went down at my department. It isn’t with me (seriously, this is a squeaky clean blog compared to my colleagues) but my email is my full name. I’m not in trouble, and I’m not likely to get into trouble (even if I left my picture up, and I’ll put it up again after I defend). I’ve gone preemptive. Discretion is key in this brave new world where the faculty cares about what their grad students do on the internet. I posit they might have some better things to do with their time than discuss our online presence, and I’m certain a majority of the faculty agree. In the real world, however, it only takes one disgruntled gate keeper to keep a grad student from getting the degree they’ve sacrificed so much for. So the new word isn’t mum; it’s discretion.

And this is what I find annoying.

See, I started this blog using my own name on purpose. I already have a blog under a fake name where I ask people not to mention my real name. But this was supposed to be my writer’s blog. I used my real name, because I wanted to make some real connections, but now I’m learning that my academic career isn’t conducive to using my real name on the internet. I guess that may have been naïve of me, but I figured if his real name was good enough for Asimov (who was a grad student when he sold his first science fiction stories), then my real name would be good enough for me. I guess Isaac didn’t have to worry about google cache.

It looks like I’m about to make the plunge into pen name land to distance myself from myself (Yeah, I know, silliness, but if discretion is key, I can go with that). And this could be a golden opportunity.

See, once upon a time I hated my name. I’ll have to write a post about it because it was very teenager, but that’s a post for next time.

Anyhow, help me out and leave suggestions in the comments. My mother likes Rena Rockford, and someone has already suggested Lena Charles (sounds like a romance novelist…) and there’s a suggestion for Draconna Ly Zeitlaunen (there’s a story behind it, but it has the dreaded Z last name). And let me know what you think of Pen Names. Maybe I should make a contest out of it. ::rubs chin like evil scientist::