Why the new name?

Having created a Wordpress site for my writing alter ego, I realise there might be some eye rolling and smirking going on.  So let me explain the reasons for taking my Great, Great Grandmother's maiden name as my pen name.

• It sounds better.  Juliet McHugh has more balance and ring to it than Juliet Foster.
• Foster is not my real name anyway.  It's the first step-father's name and the school registered me for NI with it, so it got stuck.
• Graham doesn't mean much to me these days except to remind me of a child's world that fell apart.
• The more immediate family names that I'd have preferred to take sound completely wrong with Juliet.
• Juliet Foster sounds like a news reporter or a writer of factual information (note I draw the distinction there).
• There's already an author out there called Juliet Foster and she does write factual books.  She probably doesn't want to be confused with a bloodthirsty fiction writer any more than I want to be confused with someone sensible.
• I want a name that feels like it belongs to me after twenty-odd years of cringing whenever someone shouts me.
• I like the idea of my initials spelling JAM.

Ok, so that last one might not be a genuine reason, but it's still pretty cool.

The cross-stitch books I've published will probably stay under the name Juliet Foster, at least for now.  However, if I go so far as to use Deed Poll, which is entirely possible, I'll update those too.

There's a lot more to it than concealing my identity.  On the contrary, I want to feel like I have an identity to begin with instead of this label that was stuck on and frankly, clashes with its surroundings.

I'm taking a new name, and that my dears, is that!