Sunday, November 7, 2021

WRITING INCOGNITO


Jayne Ormerod is not my real name, but there a real person behind the nom de plume (translation: pen name.) Many (okay, most) people ask me, “Why do you write under a pseudonym?"

My first answer is always to assure them I am not running from the law. Or even the taxman. No the decision was much more personal: to be me, or not to be me? That was the question. Obviously, I chose not to be me. 

Here is the reason why... 

Picture this: A family dinner with my active-duty-military husband and twelve-year-old son, sitting on the back deck enjoying the gentle summer breeze. I’d prepared a meal of spicy shrimp scampi and Italian bread smothered with melted cheese, green onions and poppy seeds. After a glass (or three) of a spunky Pinot Grigio, I worked up enough courage to confess my lifelong secret.