If it had been up to my parents, you’d soon be reading a novel called TOUCHING THE SURFACE by an author named Kelly Sabatini. Now–all you girls named Kelly out there–it’s a great name. Wear it with pride. I love the name for YOU–it’s just not the right name for me. Now granted, if the neighbors who lived in our apartment building when I was born, had had a dog named Bruno, instead of a German Shepard named Kelly then I’d likely be a Kelly and be none the wiser. Odds are, that I would have led a well adjusted life, completely oblivious to the fact that I’d be short a Wednesday blog post forty something years later. *grin*
But… even when I was a little kid and my parents told me the whole dog/name story, I always breathed a little sigh of relief. I couldn’t help but think that I’d been a little too close to spending my whole life with the wrong name. I’m sensitive that way and Kellypoppins just doesn’t have the same effect as Kimmiepoppins. *Phew*
My name had other benefits too. Growing up, I always classified other people by the name that they called me by. If someone walked up and addressed me Kimmie–I just figured that we were related. My family called me Kimmie–they still do. And the rest of the world just called me Kim. I’ve always liked both names so, it’s never been an issue. The only problem was that I also secretly liked my other name–Kimberly–but no one ever used it. I guess I’m just surrounded by nick-namey people. But I like that. It makes me feel loved. Even so, it never stopped me from also wanting to use my “full title”, so to speak. At one point in elementary school, I thought about making a public announcement that everyone should call me by Kimberly, but honestly I wasn’t that gutsy. Or convinced that I could handle a more “sophisticated” name. So, I came up with a plan. I decided that I would sign all my writing with the name Kimberly. It would be my author name and someday I would use it on the cover of the book I would write. I started to address myself as Kimberly in my diary and I began to sign all my writing the same way…
You can really see where my tendency to write dark, dramatic material started. *snicker*
It wasn’t too long ago when my agent, Michelle Wolfson and my editor Anica Rissi asked me if I would be using Kim or Kimberly on the cover of my book. For just the briefest minute, I thought about using Kim, because I’ll be honest, I’m still not used to people calling me Kimberly out loud. Sometimes I even look over my shoulder to see if they’re talking to me LOL! But then I remembered my dreams and I figure they were big enough to carry me along during those years when I forgot what I was wishing for…
What name would you put on the cover of your book?
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What?? You mean your book won't be TOUCHING THE SURFACE by K-Pop????? 😀
And what name I would put on my book??Geez, I've always thought about it. Bc it's difficult since my name is Mónica Bustamante Wagner. And it's that way, here in Chile… you always use two last names. One from your mom and the other from your dad. So Wagner isn't my hubby's last name (which is Schmidt). So as opposed to some people think I don't use a hyphen btwn my two last names 😉
So I have 3 last names to choose from! LOL
Oops, I meant "as opposed to what some people think" NOT "as opposed to some people think." *headdesk*
I totally didn't know that!!! Fun facts from Chile. I love you're full name, if I get a vote. *wink*
Neil Diamond had a similar problem. They wanted him to take a stage name. In the end, he decided that his grandmother would be confused and stuck with his real name. True!