Should I or shouldn't I?

Weird Fact: Sunsets on Mars are blue!

How many of you are about to Google that? It's pretty damn cool.

But there's a point to my weird fact this week. While the sunsets are Mars are blue, they're still called sunsets. We don't change the name. It's just different. Do we favor the blue sunset of Mars over the gold ones of earth? Well, that depends on your personal preferences. But...it's still the same sun, setting on the horizon, no matter how we perceive it.

So, it's no secret that I want to write a thriller. Okay, well, I've started writing a thriller. Now, to be clear, this is NOT romance. It's not a romantic thriller, HEA not guaranteed. (Yes, more romances are coming, but I also LOVE thrillers.)

Now, that being said. Do you guys think I need a pen name? There are arguments for and against, but to be honest, I'm not sure I have the time for a second pen name.

Reminder, my day typically looks like this:

1. Up at 5:40am
2. Drop kid off at daycare at 6:30am.
3. Start day job 6:45am.
4. Work day job till 3pm.
5. Simultaneously clean the house and defrost stuff for dinner, take care of bills, and other normal day-to-day things while working the day job.
6. Pick up kid at 3:30pm.
7. Come home. Give love and attention to kid and husband.
8. Cook Dinner.
9. Get child to bed—if he's not boycotting sleep.
10. Write—which kind of sucks, because my most creative time is in the morning. I'm usually drained by this point. But I push through. I keep telling myself to go to sleep early and get up early, but that just never works.

Give or take normal day-to-day errands, and of course hubs helps and gives me dedicated writing time. But seriously, what is sleep?

So, that being said, what's your opinion about pen names? Do you prefer when an author has 2, 3, 4, etc pen names? The main reason for this is genre jump, though there are some marketing reasons for it as well.

IF I do a pen name, it won't be a secret. It'll be similar to this one. Probably NM Raulerson or something similar. I've seen several authors do this as well, where they simply change the first name and keep the last. There won't be separate social media or anything like that. I simply do not have the time y'all.

Or, do you prefer the author with one name who clearly distinguishes what genre the book is?

Do me a favor and let me know on this Google Doc. I can't add in a straight survey in SendFox.

To Pen Name or Not to Pen Name

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