So, I Changed My Pen Name
I can explain
I made mistakes in the beginning. I thought if I told family and friends from Day 1 about my writing, they’d be all for it. I thought I’d be writing forever and not need to worry about looking for a job because I’d get successful quickly. I’ll be the first to say I’m an idiot.
I didn’t expect some people to get pissy over some of my stories. I didn’t expect people in my personal life to accuse me of lying about my life either. And yet here we are.
I’m not going to stop writing. Instead, I’ll change my pen name, and they won’t have to worry about what I’m going to write next again.
I’ve Been Holding Myself Back
I’ve been writing on Medium for three years now. I saw my pay increase to $150 once, and then stay at a constant $30 a month. I can cry “algorithm” all I want, but it’s not the case. I haven’t gotten anywhere because I spent too long playing it safe.
Using my real name makes me hesitate on different topics. Sometimes ideas popped into my head, but avoided them because of who could see my stuff in my personal life. I’m not afraid of offending someone, but I am scared of someone getting injured because of something I wrote. (Hence why I don’t write about what I do to lose weight, for example. Still won’t with a new pen name.)
