The Perils of Writing Under A Pseudonym by Susie Black

I love when Susie visits the Window--she's so funny, and such a good writer, too! I didn't know how to put this in here, but she has a free swimwear guide she'll be glad to send you. Just email her at the address at the end of the post. - Liz

When I was ten years old, I hated my first name. I was the only girl in the elementary school with that first name. I longed to be like the other girls with a more common first name. Something boring like Linda or Mary. A first name so commonplace there were several in the class that had to be differentiated by using the initial of their surname. Mary B. or Linda J when they were called upon. From the depths of a ten-year-old’s despair at the oddness of my first name and not fitting in; suddenly the solution came to me. As uncommon as my first name was, that’s how deliciously common my middle name was. I explained my problem to the teacher and told her I preferred to be called by my middle name rather than my first. To my great relief, she readily complied.

Unfortunately, my euphoria was short-lived. After a week of her calling me by my middle name, regrettably, I didn’t respond a single time. By week’s end, my teacher informed me that she was going back to calling me by my hated first name. “You might not like it, but you respond to it.” By now you might be scratching your head and wondering the point of that journey down memory lane. Bear with me. There is a point here…I promise.

If you asked me to describe it, the Holly Swimsuit Mystery Series is the result of Walter Mitty morphing into a woman and becoming an apparel sales executive. Since I have knocked off several fictional characters who are perilously close to actual people I might not have minded eliminating in real life, I thought it prudent to conceal the true identity of the protagonist, Holly Schlivnik, and write her stories under a pseudonym, or as it is more commonly known as a pen name.

So, once I’d decided to write under a pen name, the search for the perfect pseudonym began. What type of pen name to choose? Something flamboyant? Perhaps a clever play on words; an unforgettable name that everyone would remember.

I daydreamed of being interviewed by Oprah Winfrey on a TV special after my debut novel Death by Sample Size became the Oprah Book Club's all-time best seller. Then the shrill voice of my fourth-grade teacher, Mrs. Sutter, squawked inside my head, and my daydream quickly became a nightmare. Oprah introduced me to millions of fans….and a repetition of fourth grade on steroids happened as I stood backstage waiting for my name to be called and waited, and waited until Oprah’s producer whacked me on the head with a clipboard, asked if I didn’t know my name when I heard it, and shoved my onto the stage. Yikes. There was a disaster waiting to happen. Now what?

With a history like mine, the smart money said to ditch the pseudonym. Logic dictated go with your real name. Well, no one ever confused me with Albert Einstein. Since I always loved a good challenge, I threw logic out the window and soldiered on with my pseudonym search. To paraphrase Dirty Harry, a girl’s gotta know her limitations. The most important criterion for the pen name wasn’t finding something tricky; it was choosing one I’d remember to answer to.

Since I write cozy mysteries, here are two clues: The first name of my pseudonym is a version of my real middle name. This one is a gimme. The surname of my pen name is the translation from another language to English. Let’s see how alert you are. Can you guess my real middle and surname? If you want to give it a whirl, write to me at: mysteries_@authorsusieblack.com

Death by Jelly Beans

“Brings a whole new meaning to the rabbit died.”

Mermaid Swimwear President Holly Schlivnik discovers the Bainbridge Department Store Easter Bunny slumped over dead and obnoxious swimwear buyer Sue Ellen Magee is arrested for the crime. Despite her differences with the nasty buyer, Holly is convinced the Queen of Mean didn’t do it. The wise-cracking, irreverent amateur sleuth jumps into action to nail the real killer. But the trail has more twists than a pretzel and more turns than a rollercoaster. And nothing turns out the way Holly thinks it will as she tangles with a clever killer hellbent on revenge.

Death by Jelly Beans Buy Links:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/death-by-jelly-beans-susie-black/1145804565?ean=2940186124580

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/212700868-death-by-jelly-beans?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=PWl56Hmfkz&rank=1

https://www.bookbub.com/books/death-by-jelly-beans-holly-swimsuit-mystery-book-5-by-susie-black

Amazon.com : Death by Jelly Beans

Named Best US Author of the Year by N. N. Lights Book Heaven, award-winning cozy mystery author Susie Black was born in the Big Apple but now calls sunny Southern California home. Like the protagonist in her Holly Swimsuit Mystery Series, Susie is a successful apparel sales executive. Susie began telling stories as soon as she learned to talk. Now she’s telling all the stories from her garment industry experiences in humorous mysteries.

She reads, writes, and speaks Spanish, albeit with an accent that sounds like Mildred from Michigan went on a Mexican vacation and is trying to fit in with the locals. Since life without pizza and ice cream as her core food groups wouldn’t be worth living, she’s a dedicated walker to keep her girlish figure. A voracious reader, she’s also an avid stamp collector. Susie lives with a highly intelligent man and has one incredibly brainy but smart-aleck adult son who inexplicably blames his sarcasm on an inherited genetic defect.

Looking for more? Contact Susie at:

Website: www.authorsusieblack.com

E-mail: mysteries_@authorsusieblack.com