Today I'm thrilled to have a guest blog from author Susanne Matthews, or whatever her name is (you'll
Welcome, Susanne!
About the author: Susanne Matthews grew up as an avid reader
of all types of books, but always with a penchant for happily ever after
romances. In her imagination, she travelled to foreign lands, past and present,
and soared into the future. Today, she has made her dreams come true. A retired
educator, she now gets to spend her time writing, so she can share her
adventures with her readers. She loves the ins and outs of romance, and the
complex journey it takes to get from the first word to the last period of a
novel. As she writes, her characters take on a life of their own, and she
shares their fears and agonies on the road to self-discovery and love.
Susanne lives in Cornwall, Ontario with her
husband. She has three adult children and five grandchildren. When she isn’t
writing, she enjoys reading, chatting on the Internet with her writer friends,
and hearing from her readers.
What’s In A Name?
When I wrote, Just
For The Weekend, I wanted to make it harder for the characters to find
one another after the weekend was over. The old “What happens in Vegas…” idea
influenced that, but I needed a conflict that would keep the hero/heroine apart
for a couple more chapters. I’d done a lot of research on sci-fi conventions
and was surprised to learn some of the things I did. Women have been sexually
harassed and raped, and it’s a growing problem. I also learned that people
frequently use false names in Vegas. So, I chose to let my heroine use a
pseudonym—not completely false, but similar and yet different from her own. She
needed to answer to it, right? Cleopatra James, became Cleo Jones. You don’t
want to confuse the reader by having too many names for the same character. It
never occurred to me how such a little thing could blossom into an enormous
real-life boondoggle.
In Canada, we have an
extremely complex health care system, one that enables all Canadians full
access to whatever medical services they might need, without having to pay an
arm and a leg. We pay for it in our taxes, and while we might gripe about wait
times and such, the bottom line is we are so grateful it’s there when we need
it.
Until a few years ago, the
province of Ontario had a red and white card with your name on it and your OHIP
(Ontario Health Insurance Plan) number on it. Because hospital and medical care
were being illegally obtained using fraudulent cards, the provincial government
moved to issue new photo identification cards. My name came up last month.
I got the letter in the
mail telling me to present myself, with the three requested pieces of
identification to have my card converted. Bam! What a surprise I got. The long
and the short of it is, I don’t know my own name. Well, all my life, I’ve used
Susanne, or some variation of it, as my name. When I looked at my wonderful
pieces of ID, my name was different on each one. My Ontario birth certificate
had my full name, including my maiden name, old health card had the name I use,
and my driver's license and ownership
had my current name preceded by the initials of what the genius at the counter
said were my first and second name. Apparently, the name I use is my third
name, and I use it incorrectly because it’s a hyphenated name. Now, the woman
wants more ID—my SIN (Social Insurance Number) has my maiden name, but Susan,
the shortened version of Susanne I used in high school when I was 16. Here I’m
thinking I’m going to have to go back home get my passport and a notarized
letter to prove I’m me. Panic is setting in, and I’m almost in tears. Her
supervisor took pity on me. I got the health card and with it, a new first
name—now, I just have to learn to answer to it.
Follow Susanne on her:
Facebook
page
Twitter @jandsmatt
Amazon
author page
Goodreads
author page
