Ever Tried To Name Yourself?

I grew up with the name Amie Gee. My last name was “G, like the letter”, as my Dad always explained to important people. Or, like my Mom always said when we placed an order at a restaurant and had to give a name, “It’s Gee- like Gee Whiz!” When calling role, my teachers always sounded it out phonetically and pronounced it like in Bobby McGee. “Amie Gee?” “It’s Gee,” I would say, and for reasons I never understood at all, my classmates all thought this was incredibly funny. I married a man with the strong German name of Leonhardt. Pronounce it. I dare you. Don’t worry, if you get it wrong, not even I will know how to correct you. ;) Ryan likes to relate the name to Lion Heart, because he’s a little Knights of the Round Table like that. So, I gotta be true to my Gee and my Leonhardt, but for heaven’s sake I write for Young Adults, not Miriam Webster! Amie G. Hardt. My pen name. What do you think? Does it sound like the name of an author you’d be drawn too? There is NO question, however, on the matter of my husband’s pseudonym (for the purposes of this blog). I need look no further than his birth certificate, on which he is known as Ryan Edward. How vampiristically cool is THAT??? Look, I have proof: And the name really fits him in an “I feel like I’m right there in the meadow” sort of way. Ryan Edward will be mentioned often in this blog because he is "tap". He and I have known each other for a very long time and he has taught me all I ever need to know about love in order to write a swoon-worthy love story: Trepidation, Admiration, Infatuation, Flirtation, Friendship, Curiosity, Fun, Fear, Bravery, Disclosure, Romance, Love, Desire, Restraint, Jealousy, Anger, Revenge, Hope, Heartache, Strength, Time, Mystery, Confusion, Clarity, Redemption, Joy, and Forever.

This is a note I wrote to him when we were 14 years old. Trepidation, Admiration, Infatuation, Flirtation, Friendship…

FOREVER...

Boy, oh boy, do I have stories for you.