Serious Discussion on Names

My decision to start publishing my writing on Amazon/Kindle

was something that in hindsight

I should have thought about a little longer

It's not that I have hopes of becoming an overnight success

because I haven't risen to the level

of the writers I cherish and love with all my heart.

My issue at the moment is my name.

It is pronounced Sweat...lick

If you are Slovak or Eastern European you would pronounce

the "V" hard and I do both depending on my mood

but I also sign my name different ways

for no reason that makes any sense even to me

but I do.

My name...it is borrowed and not that to which I was born

I married at the young age of nineteen

so mature I was

but back in the old days a woman proudly

with glee took her husband's name

and passed that name down to her children

obviating her individual existence.

I was married from 1970 until 2009

the name was second nature to my lips and fingertips

I was used to answering "how do you say your name"

or "can I call you Barbara"

when I came to the crossroads of change

I didn't think about taking my maiden name back

because the amount of paperwork and forms to change takes

a lot of time and really what does it matter.

When I remarried in 2011

I did not take my husband's name because of the reason

I didn't go back to my maiden name

too much paperwork.

My art is under my Svetlick name

My books started out under my Svetlick name

my Website is barbarasvetlick.com

I did finally change my Facebook name

I included my new married name on my website

but can't change the address

my issue at the moment as I wait for the kiln to ramp up

is do I take the steps

the mounds of paperwork and standing in line

to change all of the titles, licenses, websites and my overall persona

to my current husband's name?
I can't go back to my maiden name because that would

include filing court papers for permission.

Does it make any difference?

Does my "Ex" care one way or the other

Does my husband now?

Maybe it is just me and maybe I should have just

created a Pen Name for my public image.

Maybe that is what I need.

Maybe I just need to feel comfortable in my own skin.

A pen name (or "nom de plume") is a pseudonym (sometimes a particular form of the real name) adopted by an author (or on the author's behalf by their publishers). Many pen names are used to conceal the author's identity.

barb