My first book written by "me" came out this week!!
Let me explain. Written by me means: by my "real" name now: Edith Felber. (It's a true Historical novel: Queen of Shadows: A Novel of Isabella, Wife of King Edward II
And I have a Historical Romance coming out in three weeks by your old friend, Edith Layton: For the Love of a Pirate
Now, it's true I'm a Gemini - and I laugh a lot about being a schizoid personality too. But neither "Felber" or "Layton" is really my real name.
I had a real name but I lost it. Or rather, I gave it away.
In the olde days when I got married, in our society, women lost their "real" name when they met a man they wanted to marry. And they didn't think twice about it. I did. But I did it anyway. I learned to be recognized as someone else. At first, it felt like an alias, and then it became me.
Then I took an extra name, another new one, when I assumed a pseudonym for my writing. By then, being someone else, signing someone else's name as my own, and etc. was easy.
Still, the name I wrote over and over again in elementary school: the name I learned to identify myself with, was lost. Ditched when I got married. Vanished. I felt both good and bad about it.
When my daughter grew up she solved that problem for herself. She kept her maiden name. They didn't do that when I was young.
Maybe that's why being two writers in two names with two different genre's feels so right to me now.
After all, I've been assuming names since I reached adulthood.
Did you jetison your born identity when you got married? Do you ever regret it? Would you do it now if you were getting married? How do you feel about it?
Edith Laulicht, Felber, Layton: otherwise known as "Mom," "Hey Lady -- who taught you how to drive?!" and "Am I speaking to the lady of the house?" among other printable things.
BOOK SIGNING ALERT!!!
For all of you readers who are anywhere near Carle Place, Long Island, New York this Friday night, November 17th, I will be signing my new book "QUEEN OF SHADOWS" at 7:30PM at the new, enormous double decker Barnes & Noble there. It's in the Country Glen Shopping Center, you can't miss it -- it's two stories high!
I (the woman of many names) would love to see you!