Pen Names

The further I go along, the more pen names I seem to collect.  A couple weeks ago on a forum someone was really annoyed with me about this.  So this morning I thought I'd explain it.

Robin O'Neill is a pen name, one I've been using since the 1990s.  The reason was two-fold.  My name is quite a mouthful and isn't easily designed around.  It confuses people.  The second part of the reason was that I had breakfast in Santa Barbara California with agents Michael Larson and his wife, Elizabeth Pomada.  He said I was "a victim of your own talent", meaning that I did too many things passably well and I should stick with one genre.

I didn't want to do that, so I wound up with a new name--Robin O'Neill.  Let Robin do what I didn't want to do.
So every time I wanted to move without carrying the baggage, it seemed appropriate to find a new front woman.
That's the explanation.  Nothing dark, nothing intentionally duplicitous just practical.

One more pen name when I move to the final stage and that'll be it.