My mistake

When I first started going online I chose to use a nickname because most people did at the time; the internet was still new and shiny and most of us were a little wary of it. Then later on I didn't want my playing online to be accessible to people who knew me professionally as a counsellor.

More than ten years further on I see lots of people using their real names. And why not? I don't think I've ever written anything that would particularly embarrass me, so my caution was unjustified.

What bugs me is that I've got a whole online presence complete with logo, colour scheme and voice under the name fairyhedgehog and it will be absolutely no use to me at all if I ever write stories that are publishable. For a start, I didn't even invent the name: I got it from a Terry Pratchett book. That didn't matter when it was just the login for a few bookchat sites but now I'm beginning to regret it.

My dilemma is do I abandon ten years of establishing a reputation or do I just hope that nothing I write ever gets published?

Spam Quality

My spam count has gone up from around 15 a day to around 70 a day overnight. This is not good news.

The worst of it is that the spam just isn't such good quality any more. I was using the spam to pick up interesting names that I might use in stories. Names like Krysta Mariala, Josue U. Kerr, and Betsy Boudreaux. Now all I'm getting is Approval Department, Member Services, and Term Life Insurance Quote. I can't somehow see these as character names.

Although, why not? Thinking about it I could write a really fun story with some of those characters. Maybe I should work on it now.

Dangerous Names

There's an interesting summary article in Mind Hacks this week, saying that difficult to pronounce names are seen as belonging to more risky or more exciting things, whether that's food additives or rollercoaster rides.

I thought that might be useful to think about when naming places and characters in stories.

My kittens

I promised pictures and here they are. I can't take the kittens home yet, though. They need at least a couple more weeks with their Mum.

This is Bonnie.

This is Frankie Marmaduke asleep with Georgie. (Georgie isn't one of ours.)



This is Frankie Marmaduke awake.



I like the name Bonnie but my family wants to rename the cats. I'm not much good at naming and I'm struggling to come up with something. I've had Mittens suggested, and Garlic. My husband's suggestions weren't helpful. Maybe we should have a "Name the Cat" competition.