Pen names

As you might guess, Arianna Hart is my pen name. My husband wouldn't let me name any of my daughters Arianna, so I took it for myself. It's kind of fun picking your own name.

The reasons I write under another name are many. I write erotic romance, which I think would make my children slightly uncomfortable if the world knew what they're mommy did while they were at school.

Also, I teach high school and I know I would be uncomfortable if my students knew what I did while my children were in school, hahahaha.

Another person I'm protecting is my husband. He's a volunteer fire fighter and he just knows he'd never live it down if they found out I write hot sex. I told him to tell them I used him for research, but he said, they'd probably say I was doing my own research while he was at the fire house.

My dad used to work for the Bishop, so I'm sure I don't need to explain who I'm protecting there. . .

Lastly, I think by using a pen name, I'm protecting myself. Writing is darn hard on your ego, you get rejected by publishers and trashed by reviewers. It's humiliating enough to see a bad review in a magazine that goes out to thousands of people, it would be even worse to know that all my friends and neighbors would read it too.

Eventually I'd like to get published under my real name, but I don't think I'll give up Ari any time soon. I like being Ari, she's a lot more fun than boring old me.

Do you ever want to be someone else? If so, who?