Laura Weldon
That’s Me. The real, everyday wife and homeschooling mommy. This is who I am if you know me in person or have met me online. I’m a birth junkie, pursuing my certification to be a childbirth educator and doula. I like to sew, I love to read, and I really, really enjoy writing.
Deena Cole
That’s me, too. Deena is a nom de plume, an alter-ego. Deena is artistic and tech-savy. She’s the one who listens to podcasts and reads blogs about writing. Deena writes mostly young-adult fiction for both the secular and “Christian” market.
Glenda Lawrence
You guessed it. Also me. Glenda is a bit older than the Laura version of me. She loves to read, correspond, and grace us with the wisdom she’s picked up along the way. Glenda writes mostly “Christian” romance.
Clara Brent
Clara Brent was the first name I ever designed for myself. (Clara=light, Brent=a hill or high place) I don’t know if I’ll ever submit work by Clara, but she holds a dear place in my heart. She was the author of the slightly embarrassing original version of this blog. (If there’s a Blogger expert out there who can help me figure out how to access a blog when I can’t remember the password and the original email account no longer exists, please let me know.)
So what’s with the split personality?
Well, for one thing, I really love the idea of having a pen name. I’ve always wanted one. Isn’t that geeky? I initially set out to have an online presence only behind the veil of a pen name. I really like the layer of privacy a nom de plume affords.
So why divulge my real name? I have several reasons. One is that when I’m interacting with people online, I don’t want to be fake. It just doesn’t feel honest to me to leave comments on people’s blogs or send them e-mail using an assumed name. (I did that a little bit, very early on, and it felt very icky. If you were ever on the receiving end of an email or comment from Deena or Glenda, please forgive me. I wasn’t trying to be deceptive.)
I figure that I’ll publish (when I publish) under one of my pen names. If my readers do no more than read my book, they’ll just think of me as Deena or Glenda, and that will be that. If they like my writing well enough to do a little investigating, then they’ll get to meet the real me. It’s taken me a while, but I’m ok with that now.
Who are you to be dispensing writing advice? You’re not even published.
Very true. And it’s not my intention to dispense writing advice with this blog. Instead, I’m going to share the things I find helpful as I travel this path. My hope is that you may find some of what I share helpful, too.
~LW
