I have a question for the #WritingCommunity about #PenNames.

I write non-fiction about cats. But I also get ideas about genre fiction.

Should I publish these works under my name, or not? What do YOU think?

1/ Stone mask Sticker by hustlart

2/ I don't have the conventional good reasons for a pen name. Real one is mellifluous, pronounce-able, genre-compatible.

Back in the '80s I probably should have :) My action scenes, according to an agent who liked my fiction, "felt male."

3/ But my plans are for a female protagonist, where my real name is an authentic asset. Complying with a publishing industry convention, which called for pen names in different genre, is not a factor for me. I self-publish.

A conversation with a friend sparked some of this.

4/ She said, "I really loved your first novel, have you ever tried again?" And I hadn't.

But I'm thinking: I should.

Everyone loved this work. It got me an agent and read all over NYC. Yet, it never got off the ground.

Because marketing "didn't know how to market it."

5/ Back then I was going to publish under my real name. So this decision, at a time when many authors say "it's all yours, publish under that name!" feels right to me.

When we do our own brand management, creating and maintaining an alternate persona is extra work.

6/ Which I also don't need. Cross-genre is much more accepted now, where people are able to make their own choices.

Stephen King gets away writing noir/horror. There's science fiction romance. Fan fiction goes nuts and people love it.

I am all about authenticity :)

7/ I seem to have convinced myself to "go real" in the course of writing this thread :) But I'm sending it out anyway, in case it helps someone else.

So many publishing traditions were never about the writer. Often, this hurt writers.

After all, I contain multitudes.