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Splitting Identities

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Splitting Identities

Notice the new byline??

E.S. McDonald
Jun 16, 2023
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Splitting Identities

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Iโ€™m A Bit Much. Iโ€™m so much of A Bit Much that I am known by several names. Have been all my life.ย 

When I was born, my parents gave me a nickname, a mashup of my first and middle name. That nickname was what I was known by until 7th grade. My 1st grade teacher tried to correct me when I told her my real name. A day later, she told me she had checked the records, and I was rightโ€“she apologized to me. It was the first time a grownup did that. I still remember it.ย 

I ditched that nickname for middle school and started going by Emily, which is my first name. When I became a teacher, I was known as Ms. McDonald, even in social hangouts with colleagues. We all used last names. Then, I became Ms. Mโ€“, my married name. Using my surname in school let me have a teacher persona. It was very useful. I could be a stern middle school teacher, then go home and just be Emily.

It was also very useful when I started writing steamy romances as Skye McDonald.ย 

Romance and wellness go together to meโ€“theyโ€™re both about finding happily ever after.

Skye is the name I gave myself, as Iโ€™ve mentioned before. It is now officially my middle name, but at first it was purely a nom de plume. Being a strict middle school teacher, and then a laid-back 12th grade sci-fi teacher, meant that I needed to keep those parts of me separate. I couldnโ€™t have 13 year oldsโ€“or 18 year olds, for that matterโ€“realizing that I wrote books with explicit love scenes.ย 

But then Skye became something else. Skye became an identity. A softer version of me.ย 

I fell in love with being Skye. And I fell out of love with the life Iโ€™d been living. I was tired of old me. Of Emily. Of Ms. Mโ€“. And, when I tested it, I learned that my old life was pretty tired of me, too.

Cue the soul journey. A summer of figuring out who I was. What it meant to live life as a bit much. As me, fully.

Then cue several years of continued exploration. Of becoming me, fully. Of leaving teaching and ditching the need to wear multiple names.ย 

I started my wellness coaching business as Skye because I didnโ€™t see a need to split my personas anymore. Romance and wellness go together to meโ€“theyโ€™re both about finding happily ever after. Theyโ€™re both about daring to loveโ€“love yourself, love othersโ€“and accept people for who they are. (Including you!)ย 

Buuuuuut Iโ€™m changing my mind on this. They may be familiars, but theyโ€™re different genres. And itโ€™s common for an author to use multiple pen names when they change genres, just so their audience knows what to expect.ย 

So youโ€™ll find me here, and under my Ablty brand, as E.S. McDonald from now on.ย 

Nice to meet you. Tell meโ€“who are you, fully?ย 

Your Turn!

Drop 3 words in the comments that give me the gist of YOU.

Itโ€™s me, hi.

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Splitting Identities

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Kyle Robertson
Jun 16Liked by E.S. McDonald

Nice to meet you too, again! I love the new pen name and totally support your decision to split up your ventures. Makes a lot of sense and of course you should be who YOU want to be. As for who I am fully...ooh that's a tough question. I like to think at heart I'm a creative and perhaps a teacher who likes to help people become the best versions of themselves in different ways, from writing to karate to other things. Does that count?

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Rebecca Holden
Writes Dear Reader, I'm lost
Jun 16ยทedited Jun 16Liked by E.S. McDonald

All or nothing. ๐Ÿ˜Š

SUCH a great post, Skye! So much to think about around our own identity. As always, thank you for making me think!

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