Tunnel Vision

Do you ever get it into your head this one thing is how it’s going to be and nothing will change your course? You get tunnel vision and can’t be bothered to see around you and realize that one particular spot you’re rushing towards isn’t the end all be all of your existence.

I recently realized I had tunnel vision. When my focal point got messed up, of  course I had a melt down that would put Chernobyl to shame. At that moment, my world had just ended and I didn’t know what to do.

What was so life changing that I couldn’t see past my own stupidity? Someone else published a book under the name “Amanda Stone”. Of course when I decided to write under that name, it never occurred to me that there would be other “Amanda Stone”s out there. It never dawned on me that it was a common first and last name. Nope, I picked the name. So obviously I had dibs on using it. Right?

Thankfully after talking with some friends of mine I was brought back down to earth. They helped to show me that, while unfortunate that it happened, it’s truly not as life ending as I made it out to be. I was able to slightly change the name and continue on as I have been. So now I am “Amanda C. Stone”. Not much of a change. But at least I don’t have to start all over with a new name.

But it was my Bestie McBesterson (BMB to me, I love her dearly, she tells me things straight and gave me a fabulous smack upside the head to get me out of my Chernobyl sized meltdown) that brought it all into perspective for me. As long as I write quality stories, the name I write under truly doesn’t matter. We had a good laugh about writing under some truly horrible names.

I’m in the process of finishing up the research for my first book. Here’s hoping that my words will speak for themselves and my chosen pen name truly doesn’t matter.