What’s In a Name?

So I’m daydreaming about my writing career-to-be and wondering whether I need to take a pseudonym.

My mom tells me that originally, my parents were going to name me Sarah, after a longtime friend of Daddy’s family (I was born on her birthday). Turns out that when I arrived, Daddy decided that I needed to be named for mom, so I ended up as a Mary Louise.

I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, a “Mary.” I am certainly not a “Mary Lou,” God forbid. (I never took gymnastics.) I had a nickname growing up (what Southern girl doesn’t?), but you can’t continue to go by “Missy” after thirty unless you have a hair helmet, drive a Volvo, and belong to the Junior League, none of which is true of me. So when I got my first grownup job, I decided to use both of my names (what Southern girl who can doesn’t?).

I’ve been “Mary Louise” ever since. Trouble is, I’m writing chick lit. “Mary Louise” says historical. Mary Louise sounds like iced tea on the porch. Mary Louise doesn’t sound very hip, know what I’m sayin’? I don’t know how well it fits with chick lit. Plus, I’m a teacher, and you never know what parents might think about their kids’ teacher being a writer who doesn’t flinch at body parts when writing a love scene. Hmm.

I’ve picked up another name over the years. My sister worked as a nanny for years. I got to know two of those kids pretty well. The older one had trouble with the letter S, so “Missy” was a problem. The younger one couldn’t quite handle “Mary Louise.” Problem solved when clever sis suggested they both call me “Mimi.”

Mimi I became to them and in time, to my sister and my mother. Now all my nieces and nephews call me Mimi. I’m guessing my grandma name–WAAAAAY down the road from now (my kids are working on 8 and 6)–will also be Mimi.

So, chick lit books by Mimi Wells. What do you think?