Carole Remy

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Holla Your Name to the Reverberate Hills (on Twitter and Facebook)! #TBSU

It has occurred to me somewhat belatedly that most of the heroines in my novels use fake names, and sometimes fake personas as well.

Aggie and Angela in Twelve Nights both pretend to be Aggie. Mary Jane goes undercover (literally!) and is called by her room number, Twelve, in Beauty of the Beast. The main premise in Who Is Candid? is that nobody in the country can figure out who the main character, Candid/Lucy, even is!

Throughout Fantasy Impromptu, Bran calls his protégé by her pseudonym, Chantal. By the end of writing the novel, I had to go back myself and look up that her real name is Helen!

Why all this identity confusion?

If life is art, then the name switches reflect my own life. Many of you already know that Carole Remy is a pseudonym. I was born Mary Carol Moran, courtesy of the nuns singing Christmas carols in the lobby of the hospital! Yes, I am a Christmas baby. At age six, I told my parents that Mary Carol was a baby name, and that I would henceforth be known as Mary. I must have been a pretty strong-willed six-year-old, because no one but my Great Aunt Mary Ellen ever called me Mary Carol!

Fast forward to the adult start of my poetic career. Three names looked better on a book cover, so I became Mary Carol (or MC) to my literary friends. Later it felt a bit misleading to publish 'academic' poetry and sexy fun erotica under the same name, and Carole Remy was born. In a final twist of name-fate, I moved to Mexico, and Mary Carol was too much of a mouthful for my Spanish speaking friends. They all call me Carol!

What's in a name?

Since humans began writing, writers have pondered the concept of name. Now more and more I'm wondering about the same thing myself. I doubt I would have so consistently given my heroines fake names and identities if I wasn't rather conflicted about the whole identity thing myself!

Is your name your identity?

I will not blot out his name out of the book of life.

Bible, The Revelation of St. John the Divine, 3:5

Is your name a marketable item?

I wish to God thou and I knew where a commodity

of good names were to be bought.

Shakespeare, King Henry IV, Part I, I, ii, 92

Does your name matter at all?

What's in a name? That which we call a rose

by any other name would smell as sweet.

Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, II, ii, 43

And it gets even more complicated! In these days of social media marketing, the author name becomes the identity and the sales brand. And YES, it matters!

Nowadays, your author name is your brand.

As a writer, you learn to

Holla your name to the reverberate hills,

and make the babbling gossip of the air

cry out...

Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, I, v

That is, the 'reverberate hills' of Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and countless other platforms. In a grand irony, my erotic romance pseudonym is now much more widely known than my poet/philosopher real name.

Who are You?

Do you like your name? If you are a writer, do you write under your birth name, or do you use a pseudonym, or both? How many different names do you use? I go variously by Mary, Mary Carol, MC, Carole, and Carol, and I can't always remember who knows me by which name!

Have you attached an emotion to your various names? To me, MC feels the most intimate in correspondence and Mary Carol in person. Yet 95% of the time, I'm Carole or Carol, names which as solos have come into my life relatively recently.

How does your name relate to your identity? Is your name who you are? Is it a marketing tool? Does it matter to you what people call you? Do you go by different names with different people, or in different situations? Do you have a work name and a family name?

Please join me in the comments, and let's explore the whole notion of identity and names. I look forward to a lively discussion!

Check out these related posts:

Four great blogs, presented here in the grand tradition of The Blog Scratchers' Union! #TBSU

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Encouraging Words from Ronnie L. Smith of Writer's Relief #TBSU

We have another outstanding guest today with some very practical Encouraging Words! I'm pleased to introduce Ronnie L. Smith of Writer's Relief!

WR helped me submit my poems a few years ago. With their help, poems were accepted by over twenty national and international magazines, and before I had even finished Equivocal Blessings, my latest book of poems, a highly-respected editor asked to publish it! Thank you, Writer's Relief!

Here are Ronnie's helpful thoughts...

Four Ways To Revitalize Your Passion For Writing When You’re Feeling Down

As writers, we sometimes feel like we’re fighting a losing battle. With the number of submissions most editors and literary agents receive, your work has to stand out from the crowd and then pass further rounds of rigorous screening.

But if you can stick out the writing, revising, and submitting, you’re actually way ahead of the curve. Many writers give up too soon because they feel defeated by the first few rejection letters, and they never reach their goal of publication. We hope you’ll use the following tips to keep yourself motivated and inspired to stick with a submission strategy long enough to receive an acceptance.

1) Remember Why You Started Writing

What are your goals and dreams? What was it that you set out to do when you first started writing? Did you want to change the world or just know that someone read and appreciated your work? Do you even remember?

Make a list of the reasons you started writing in the first place. Hard work usually feels more rewarding if you keep your goal in mind. The more you think about why you’re spending hours submitting your writing to literary markets, the more you’ll enjoy the submissions and—yes—even the rejection letters. (Rejection letters mean someone is reading and considering your work for publication, which is more than many writers accomplish!)

2) Find Hope In Your Favorite Authors

Pick up one of your old favorites and consider what the author had to go through to get his or her work out there. It’s a sure thing that the writer had similar issues—bouts of writer’s block, negative feedback from editors or literary agents, family and friends who weren’t as supportive as the author needed, etc. Yet here you are with this literary classic in your hands, his/her story that has sold millions of copies.

Authors—even famous ones—rarely get published on the first try. Many of us now know the story of Theodore Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, who was rejected by 27 publishers until a personal friend finally published his book. Sylvia Plath was told that she didn’t have genuine talent. The literary world is chock-full of these kinds of stories. Very rarely do writers find success without a generous share of disappointment and frustration, but that doesn’t mean you’re not due for an acceptance soon.

3) Research The Publishing Industry

How familiar are you with the statistics of your trade?

We often remind our clients that, on average, it takes about 100 submissions to receive a single acceptance. Knowing that, you might be doing better than you thought! Figure out how many appropriately targeted submissions you’ve sent out, and if it’s not yet 100—or even if it’s more—keep going. Every rejection brings you one step closer to an acceptance.

4) Write Anything.

Got writer’s block? Write without thinking and don’t stop. Even if it seems you’re getting nonsense and drivel at first, eventually the words will start coming on their own. Before too long, you’ll have one of two things: a starting point for something new or, in the very least, the satisfaction of knowing you conquered the white space. You may not be looking at the most impressive piece of writing you’ve ever done, but you certainly won’t be staring at defeat. And remember: You can always revise later on.

All writers experience disappointment and feelings of failure at some point or another. While writing can sometimes feel daunting and the rejection letters heartbreaking, keep at it and you never know when your work will strike a chord with that one editor who can’t wait to publish your writing. Keep in mind that making regular submissions helps take the sting out of each rejection. If you’re interested in improving your submission strategy, we have multiple submission services for all budgets and publishing needs.

Thank you so much for your down-to-earth words of wisdom, Ronnie! I especially like the advice that working on something new dampens the pain of rejection of the previous baby. As writers, we get to practice the Buddhist virtue of detachment every day!

Keep submitting, everyone! And if you want some help, I can personally vouch for the integrity and effectiveness of Writer's Relief!

Where are you in the submission process, Dear Blog Reader Who's Also a Writer? How do you motivate yourself to keep going? What favorite authors inspire you? Why did you start writing? Let's have a lively discussion in the comments!

Check out these related posts:

In the Grand Tradition of The Blog Scratchers' Union #TBSU, here are the blogs of our previous Encouraging Words guests!

Aubrianna Hunter Facebook Page
Vibe Shifting, the blog by Nathalie Thompson
Kevin Hanrahan
Seumas Gallacher

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Elvis Lives! Hear Him Sing on a Sexy Fun Road Trip with Lucy! #TBSU

Lucy is traveling across the United States in Who is Candid?, and we are tagging along, enjoying the fun. Today she's in Tennessee, and decides to visit Belle Meade Plantation, in downtown Nashville. Enjoy all her fun adventures with your own copy of Who Is Candid?, available through Amazon Kindle worldwide.

Buy from Amazon US!
Buy from Amazon UK!
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You'll never guess who Lucy meets at Belle Meade Mansion! Well, maybe you've guessed from the title to this post! Yes! It's Elvis. You can read all about her sexy fun encounter with Elvis at

Sapphyria's Steamy Book Reviews.

Since Saph is sharing the story, I thought I'd give you some vintage Elvis songs. Does he really sing Blue Suede Shoes for Lucy while performing a hot strip tease?? This clip may help you imagine the scene!

Blue Suede Shoes

Later, much later, Lucy asks him to sing Love Me Tender. Sigh... This version is from the original movie. Is Elvis singing to YOU??

Love Me Tender

One more, a personal favorite, Can't Help Falling in Love!

Can't Help Falling in Love

And to conclude the concert, here's the UB 40 version of Can't Help Falling in Love, complete with incredible, awesome, amazing trumpet solos! When this cut was released, my best friend in Canada was a well-known trumpet player, and I listened to this song for hours, and still love it just as much!

UB 40 version of Can't Help Falling in Love

Hope you've enjoyed this mini-concert! Lucy certainly has a fun time when she meets a whole new, thoughtful, very intelligent Elvis Aron Presley, who is still The King!

Who is your fave singer of all time? What do you think of the covers of Elvis's songs by various artists? Are you enjoying Who Is Candid?, and our side trips along her journey? Thanks for joining me here today. As always, I look forward to a fun conversation.