Down the Rabbit Hole

Pen Names and Winter Reading

"Blogging Circle of Friends "
Day 2524 October 17, 2019
Do you share your real self online? Or have you created a fake online persona (pen name) for your writing? What is the value in using a fake persona for your work?

I have been writing and publishing under MD Maurice for as long as I can remember. It isn't necessarily a fake pen name, it is actually my maiden name and my initials. Using my initials served a dual purpose...it was first and foremost a nod to some of my favorite authors; DH Lawrence and CS Lewis. I also enjoyed the sexual anonymity by not using my obviously feminine first name. I found that particularly handy when I started publishing some of my erotic and horror pieces. I like that is put me on a gender neutral playing field to start off.

As far as sharing my real self online...I would say nothing exposes me more than blogging. It is difficult to hit "publish" sometimes because I have been too candid about one thing or another. It feels very vulnerable some times but I have to be authentic in my writing or else what is the point? I feel readers are owed at least that much if they are taking the time to read my work. It has to be personal. It has to be real. Even in my fictional pieces, there is always so much more of "me" in my characters than I might normally be comfortable with but that is just how I've always written.


"Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise"
Day 2024 October 17, 2019
Prompt: What books are on your winter reading list?

I would like to think I have the actual time for a winter reading list...sincerely. That sounds like a marvelous edition to my life. The reality is, if I have free time to myself, I'm usually grocery shopping or cleaning stalls and not reading or better yet, writing something. If the predictions of a snow-filled winter here in the Northeast ring true, I may just have some long snowed-in weekends of reading by the fire. If that happens, then I can think of a few titles I'd hit up first...

I'd tackle the latest James Lee Burke novels about his chief character, Dave Robicheaux. In 2018 he published, "Robicheaux" and then "The New Iberia Blues" in 2019. I love this character and the beautifully visual world Burke paints as only a master can. I start in on one of his novels and always feel as if I am warmly welcomed back in to a place I have been away from for far too long.

Then, because I can't think of more fitting polar opposite, I think I'd like to take on Neil Gaiman's "American Gods" or "Good Omens". I've become a fan of his style, he's made the sy-fy genre somehow more appealing and accessible to me with his dark visions and wry humor.

I'd love to read Stephen King's latest, "The Institute" as well. I'm more a fan of King's early work but I did enjoy "Dr. Sleep" - and its obvious connections to his wonderful book, "The Shining".

Lastly, and this I actually intend to do this winter, I'd like to read Lewis Carroll's classic, Alice in Wonderland. I'm not completely sure I've ever read the original. I need to do that both for the sheer enjoyment as well as to build some groundwork for a piece of fan fiction I am working on.