Do you ever wonder if you share too much???

I am, by nature, a very open and honest person. I never flinch when someone asks a personal question. I have no issues sharing my experiences, especially if it will help someone. And there are times I like to talk about myself! LOL! Who doesn't?

But sometimes I do wonder if I share too much...especially online.

Now I never worry about Facebook...I keep it set to private and I'm only friends there with people I know in real life...who would know the details about my life anyway.

On Twitter I never use names of my husband or kids, and I don't here on my blog/website either. But I do share stories from my personal life. I talk about the city I grew up in...because I love it. I talk about my favorite places to go. I talk about being a writer, a mom, a wife.....I like to connect with people on a personal level and how can you do that without revealing bits of yourself?

I know many authors prefer to write under a pen name for the purpose of keeping their private life private. I never wanted a pen name, though I did consider it because my married last name is not really all that easy to pronounce. But in the end I decided not to. I wanted to see MY name on the cover of my book..not some name I made up. And fame is not why I write, but yeah, I wanted to be able to go somewhere someday and have someone ask, "Oh, are you THE Stephanie Haefner?" And I could say, "Why, yes!"

Indulge my fantasies for a second, 'kay?

I've been on other blogs where I have felt the blogger shared too much...too many personal photos, too many names and places. I don't want that for my blog but I don't want the opposite either. I strive for a happy middle.

But even in the middle ground, I wonder if I reveal too much. What about you? Ever feel that way? What do you do to protect yourself??

Pen names.....yes or no????

I always said right from the get go...no pen name for me. I loved the idea of seeing MY name on a book cover...not some made up name. And who doesn't dream of the day they hand their credit card to a clerk and they do a double take and ask "Are you THE (fill in blank with your name)?"

Okay, maybe that's just me. :)

I write romantic fiction and yes I have some pretty steamy scenes. It really does not bother me one bit if people know it's me who writes these things (and obviously has some lusty visions from time to time!! LOL!!) The people who's opinions I do care about, friends and family, have already read my stuff and they all loved it...even my mom and we really weren't a family that openly talked about sexual things. I did warn her though! But these are all the people who would know it was me even if I did use a pen name. I can understand teachers and other careers that involve kids or what not, where they would be looked down upon for writing sexual stories. I definitely get that reason for a pen name. And now that I've been published in my own name, in an erotic anthology and my novel which is chick lit with some sexual scenes, if I ever wanted to switch to childrens...a pen name would be a must.

But now I wonder if I should have went with a pen name anyway. Only because I'm afraid my last name is too hard to pronounce. It's Haefner, pronounced Hayf-ner. We're used to people mispronouncing it...usually we get Haf-ner (pronounced like half). I did debate on using my maiden name cause it's super simple: Stephanie Russell...but I googled it and there is another writer published under Stephanie Russell among tons of other people with that name. If I google Stephanie Haefner...it's all me.

So what do you think?? When you saw my name, did you know how to pronounce it correctly?? It is awkward to say??? (In all honesty, when I met my husband, I thought it was really weird to say! I debated on hyphenating my name when we got married because I really didn't like Haefner!) Does the name just look weird????