Lots of people out there are using pen names for their writing.  I've noticed a number of writers setting up websites for the pseudonyms.  I've wanted to write for Harlequin since I started writing.  And way back when you had to use a pseudonym for them, I had one all picked out.  Then I didn't like it so I picked another one.  I've picked at least three or four over the years.  But then Harlequin changed that policy and I'm free to publish under my own name (when I sell to them).  Do I want to do that?  You bet I do.  It means I won't have to come up with a name I could get sick of but be stuck with for years, decades (hopefully).  What happens if I don't like the name anymore?  At least with my real name I've had it for 34 years so I'm used to it.  It's not what I would have picked for me but it's mine.

There are pros and cons for using a pen name just as there are for using your real name.  So why take a pen name?  More privacy.  You can keep the writing you separate from the you, you.  It could be better from a business perspective depending on how you manage things.  But I want to publish under my real name.  Lots of other authors do it.  I've already registered the website using my real name.  And how will my Grade 13 English teacher know it's me if I publish under a pseudonym.  Or my university English professor who wrote on an essay of mine once that I could not write.

So, how many out there are using or are going to use a pen name and why?  Who is going to use their real name and why?  I'm curious to see what reasons people have one way or the other.

Happy blogging!