Call me Kate. Or Katie. Just call me maybe.

Sorry about referencing that song. You’re singing it now, aren’t you? Me too. I think it’s okay, though, because maybe music is appropriate to help celebrate my new website and my first official blog post.

Since it is my first post, I thought I’d address confusion about my name. Dopirak. I know. I know. It’s a real doozy, but I promise that the guy who gave it to me is worth it. There’s a little pronunciation button around here somewhere in case you’re trying to figure it out. Hope it helps. (If you listen to it, please excuse the potty talk.)

Oddly enough, I get questioned about my first name. It’s always been a source of trickiness because I’m really Mary Kathleen, named after my grandmothers. I think the plan was to call me Mary Kate, but that didn’t last too long. My grampy sang that adorable K-K-K-Katie song to me and bam, I was Katie.

But when I joined the SCBWI (www.scbwi.org) and it was time to officially declare my author name, I wrote Kate. Since Dopirak is such a tough last name, I thought dropping a letter from Katie would make things easier. Looking back, though, I wonder if my subconscious had been at work.

In some weird way, writing under Kate instead of Katie gives me freedom. Kate can take the risk to write a first draft, to revise it, to share it, to revise it fifty zillion more times, then *gulp* submit it. And when the rejections come, they are for Kate, not for me. (Just so you know, Kate is also responsible for our monster-sized pile of laundry and the crusty dishes in our sink.)

Does this make any sense at all? (Come on. Make me feel better.)

Do you write using a different variation of your name? Why?

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What? You want to win a prize for your writing? Check out these contests:

SCBWI http://www.scbwi.org/Pages.aspx/Introduction

Highlights Fiction Contest http://www.highlights.com/highlights-fiction-contest

Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award http://www.amazon.com/b?node=332264011