To Pen Name or not to Pen Name

What do you think?

I have finally--this morning--discovered what it is that makes my stories tick. (You know, that singular element that connects them all?) I feel like the girl who unearthed the dragon's name and now controls its immense power.

Mwahahaha!

The bizarre idea seeped into my head that now, (knowing my unique niche,) I'm empowered to make a life-altering decision. Do I change my writing name?

I LOVE my name. How many people can say they're an alliteration? On the down side, there are probably fifty other Crystal Collier's on the web. On the plus side, there are probably fifty other Crystal Collier's on the web, and to my knowledge, none of them are writers. But what if by some strange chance of luck...or fate, I land a stalker? Goodness, I have kids!

The list of pros and cons before making a choice:

Pros:

*Gender anonymity
*Genre jumping (Which I do, a lot.)
*Keeping the day job separate from the writing career (The musical world vs publishing)
*Sheltering the fam
*Dual authors for a single series, if I ever tire and want a writing partner

Cons:

*Establishing a new social network (Twitter, blog, facebook etc)
*Possibly losing some of the soft audience (family, friends, neighbors)
*It will inevitably come out (like it or not) that this is a pseudonym
*What picture would I use? Yikes! And book signings...?

Did I miss anything? What is your take on pseudonyms?

See my tamed dragon? I used cheese. =)

Hello Blogfest, Goodbye Cheese

Shelley Watters is hosting a "Twitter" pitch blogfest for completed MS's. The prize? A full manuscript request from Suzie Townsend of Fine Print Literary Management. See more here. In 140 characters, not words, characters, here's my pitch:

Title: Faux Paw

Genre: YA Urban fantasy

Word Count: 70,000

Socially inept Faux only wanted a boyfriend, until she burst into flame and initiated the apocalypse. Now all she wants is to go home.

The non-scaled down blurb goes a little something like this:

Ugly, socially inept Faux (Fox) never hoped for more than a boyfriend by the time her seventeenth birthday rolled around. Alone—abandoned by both career-parents on her special day, she lit the candle. “Make a wish!” she sighed, blew out the cake, and exploded, literally.

Seems there’s one or two things Mom and Dad hadn’t mentioned—like the freaky way she could imitate the human torch, or the reaper-like creatures on her trail, or the two opposing and steamy misfits working to psychologically win her over. Now uncovering the truth about her past is the only thing that may save her from the monsters on her trail—all of them.

AND ON TO THE CHEESE:

I keep hearing it, and so my "youthful" days of wishfully thinking I'm above the law...

are over.

What law? Oh, the law of name branding. So, (as much as it pains me,) I'm retiring the profile name of "Happily Cheesy" (*don't cry, don't cry!*) in favor of my real name.

It's not that I don't like my name. Actually, I love it! When I realized I was going to marry a Collier, I leapt for joy. I mean--besides the fact my hubby rocks, I'm now an alliteration. =)