Why Rue?

I don’t like surprises, and I know most of you don’t either. Especially with everything that is happening, and has been happening recently with the world around us. I also don’t normally share this much personal information, but I think you need to understand the backstory of what’s going on, and why changes are coming.

When I first started publishing, it was with a chip on my shoulder. Not about my books (which I knew weren’t perfect) but about my name. I’ve never used a penname, for a really simple reason that used to make me laugh when I got to tell the story – even though now I’m almost ashamed of that fact. My ex-husband did not think I’d succeed, and even asked for the last name back in the divorce. So, I told him and swore to myself that every single book I ever published would have his last name on it.

Which felt great, at the time. It was a really awesome way to rub his face in the fact that I was succeeding. After all. My name is my name, and he couldn’t do anything about it. At the time, my son wasn’t old enough to make the decision not to support it… or even know what I was doing, let alone why.

But he’s getting older, and my ex and I are on good terms. We coparent, and we’ve both moved on in our lives. I no longer even want the last name I have. It wasn’t mine before I married him, and it’s not something I’m connected to now that we’re apart.

There’s also the fact that my child(ren) – both my son and my stepdaughter – are getting old enough to know what I do, the genre I write in, and they are the ones I need to protect more than anything in this world.

I started questioning whether or not to use a penname over a year ago, and I waffled back and forth on it constantly. I came to the conclusion that I should just keep doing what I was doing, because I’d been doing it for years.

With the pause that I’ve put on my publishing to deal with my family chaos and the massive pile of shit life has thrown into my path, it’s the perfect time to take a step back and refocus…

To look at myself, my family, and do the best thing for ME and my writing. To do things the way I would have done them from the beginning if I knew what the fuck I was doing.

With that being said, over the next month or two, you’re going to see a lot of changes. The most important being my name.

I’m not going anywhere, but my name is. I hope you understand, and stick with me through the chaos.