A name, a name…what’s with my name?

Lately a bunch of things have come up for me, all related to names. For one, I’ve been toying with a tagline for my website based on my name. More on that in yesterday’s post.

This week I had a fun Facebook wall comment thing going with Pamela Ross and Carolyn Double Owen about being called names as kids. We’re all claiming to be in contention for the most easily abused last name. Pamela’s was Morak aka moron. Carolyn’s was Double aka double trouble. Of course I am Flatt (yep, pancake, tire, you name it).

I can still vividly recall my worst name related incident. It was grade 7, and a certain male whose name I remember to this day, but who shall remain nameless here, stood up in geography class just after the teacher stepped out into the hall. He proclaimed to the entire class his opinion that I, Flatt, was the Great Plains and another unfortunately named girl with the last name Biggs was the Rocky Mountains. Sadly our chests did indeed mirror our last names. I was mortified.

Uh, yeah. I think I win. Sorry, gals.

But there are other benefits to an unusual name, and time generally takes care of the frontal development issues. As I said yesterday, at least it’s easy-ish to find you on the internet if you have an odd name.

I had a lovely exchange this past week with a woman doing family genealogy. Turns out our families are indeed related. The great-great grandfathers were brothers. And this winter another distant relative sent me a lovely poem written by her grandfather in memory of my great-grandfather.

Then there are the famous Flatts you might actually have heard of. Rascal Flatts just named their band that because it was memorable according to this article or this one. And there’s Rachel Flatt the US figure skater. My figure skating daughters like to imagine they might just be even a tiny little wee bit related to her.

So here’s to all of you out there with names that people have toyed with, mutilated, and otherwise abused. Maybe we’re memorable.

© Lizann Flatt, www.lizannflatt.com
No part of this blog may be used without written permission from the author.

To Tagline or to Tag Line?

If you troll the internet for advice for writers, many sites urge writers to come up with a tag line or tagline. Sometimes it’s lumped in with something called a platform (yikes), sometimes it’s called branding, and sometimes it’s just a tag line. You know, that one line used to describe a product, business, movie? I like to think of it as a slogan.

So I started thinking of one for myself. But I write nonfiction, poetry, short stories, and fiction (although no book-length fiction is yet published that’s the longterm goal). How to sum all that up? Should I even try?

I have an odd name, both first and last. I can admit that now. I hold no grudge against my parents for this, honestly! But it was hard having such an unusual name growing up. Today it actually makes electronic life on the internet much easier because there aren’t a bazillion others in the world out there with my same name. I’ve decided to play off my odd name in my tagline and came up with “flatt-out fantastic.”

I guess it’s basically like this:

Books by Lizann Flatt…Flatt-out Fantastic!

or as it is on my website

books by Lizann Flatt
Flatt-out Fantastic!

Of course, it might actually fall flatt (okay, bad pun). But I’ll wear it for awhile and see how it feels.

In case you’ve been thinking about one for yourself, here are some helpful resources more related to authors and writing. (If you google “tagline” there’s a ton of info out there.)

Creating Author and Publisher email taglines
http://www.midwestbookreview.com/bookbiz/advice/taglines.htm

author branding from Booksquare
http://booksquare.com/author-branding-2/

author Mitali Perkins on branding generally
http://www.mitaliblog.com/2009/06/virtual-author-branding-five-tips.html

good look at taglines in general and how to come up with one
http://www.suzanstmaur.com/?Writing_Tipz_from_Suze:Tipz_Archive:Taglines

What’s your tagline? I’d love to hear how you came up with it.

© Lizann Flatt, www.lizannflatt.com
No part of this blog may be used without written permission from the author.

Spring Cleaning

Today marks the day when I finally admit I’m bored to death of the Blogger template I’ve been using since day one. So, with a few clicks of the mouse, I have given my home here a makeover. What do you think?

If only spring cleaning my real house was this easy. Sigh.

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© Lizann Flatt, www.lizannflatt.com
No part of this blog may be used without written permission from the author.

Poor Pike Present

I happened to look out my window just after dinner the other night, and something caught my eye. Something white was thrashing around in the water. After grabbing the binoculars I could tell it was a seagull. But the seagull was wrestling with something, something that was also white.

For a moment there I had a horrified thought that it was our cat. I mean, I know seagulls wouldn’t likely attack the cat, but maybe if the cat had been injured and fallen into the water…. Anyway, it wasn’t the cat.

Turns out this seagull was wrestling with a big fish. I must have seen the underbelly through the binocs. After some Herculean efforts, the seagull flopped the fish onto the dock and proceeded to peck and it. Tasty dinner, I guess.

Yesterday I went out to see what present the seagull had left us, and all that was left was a pike head. A bit icky, but it’s the law of nature. I’m assuming the fish was already injured because I don’t think the seagull itself would actually attack a healthy fish. Here’s what I saw.

© Lizann Flatt, www.lizannflatt.com
No part of this blog may be used without written permission from the author.