Except when I don't.
I write for a number of publications, and I admit I enjoy writing for some more than others. I claim to have checked my ego at the door a long time ago. After all, I write articles in exchange for payment. It's how I earn my living. I do a job. I get paid.
I write so much locally, that often publications will use a pen name for me...I don't mind, as long as my name is on the paycheck! (My pseudonym is my first and middle name initials and my maiden name...if you can't figure that one out, let me know and I'll clue you in!)
But every now and then, something happens that kind of gets to me in a bad way. It's when a publication publishes an article I write, but they put another writer's name in the byline. It's happened to me twice now. The first was on a "home interiors" article in a local slick magazine. The publisher was beside herself, so sorry and so worried I'd be upset. But not enough to print a retraction/correction in the next issue. Oh well...
It happened again this month, and this one really kind of bothered me. It was a cover article, and an assignment I was thrilled to get. It was also a joy to write. So imagine my disappointment to get the magazine in the mail, open it to my article and see another person's name on the byline. Boo.
At least when I see my pseudonym on an article byline, I know it's me. It's a name I had for the first half of my life before Larry gave me his. But when it's a writer I don't know getting credit for a piece I took great care to write, I feel let down.
I just found out that another cover piece I wrote for a local publication will have my pseudonym in the byline instead of my real name. Ego...go check yourself. I'm OK with it not having my real (current) name. Not.
At least I'm writing. And I'm getting checks...with Susan Marquez clearly printed on the "pay to" line. Isn't that what this work is all about?
Write on!
Susan
