Friday, January 8, 2016

Pen names and winnings

Since starting teaching, which I love, I've been writing under a pseudonym to avoid having to censor myself. This is the same reason I didn't want to work for a big, commercial news outlet. I wanted to write what I really thought. I've been doing just that with my new moniker, and it's been truly liberating. Sending off work without fear of personal rejection has been an added bonus. It's seen me take risks that, in terms of getting new pieces published, has really paid off.

In the past two years, I have written only once under my own name. I entered the Avid Reader (my favourite Brisbane bookshop) Minuscule Flash Fiction competition mid-last-year and had two stories shortlisted. One won, which I was quite chuffed about, and several keyboard warriors were less than happy to hear. (This kind of needless and baseless drama is also well worth avoiding. Despite writing on some controversial topics, I've happily skipped this with my writerly invisibility cloak.) So, here it is. And here's to anonymity.




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