Splitting Identities

Notice the new byline??

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

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 right–she apologized to me. It was the first time a grownup did that. I still remember it. 

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. M–, 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. 

Skye is the name I gave myself, as I’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 couldn’t have 13 year olds–or 18 year olds, for that matter–realizing that I wrote books with explicit love scenes. 

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

I fell in love with being Skye. And I fell out of love with the life I’d been living. I was tired of old me. Of Emily. Of Ms. M–. 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. 

I started my wellness coaching business as Skye because I didn’t see a need to split my personas anymore. Romance and wellness go together to me–they’re both about finding happily ever after. They’re both about daring to love–love yourself, love others–and accept people for who they are. (Including you!) 

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

So you’ll find me here, and under my Ablty brand, as E.S. McDonald from now on. 

Nice to meet you. Tell me–who are you, fully? 

Your Turn!

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

It’s me, hi.