YOUR AMAZING MIDDLE NAME

Over on Ane Mulligan's blog, she posted a cute thing. You find a word for each of the initials of your middle name that applies to you. Then you tag three people whose names start with these initials.

My middle name is Nan. Sounds funny to me. I haven't used it in years. I always use my maiden name or initial when filling out forms, etc.


N - A - N. Okay. Here goes.


N - Novels. I write novels. Love it. Feel it's a God-given calling. I now have 10 titles, with many more to come. The Flip Dictionary (Writer's Digest)--every writer needs one--says some of the synonyms for "novel" are "avant-garde, daring, different, fresh, innovative." I'd like for my novels to be described like that!


A - Author. I'm an author. I know. This goes along with the above. But that's the first word that came to me. I not only write novels, I write articles. I've written hundreds of published articles. I've worked for two New York Times subsidiaries and had two weekly newspaper columns for different newspapers at different times. I've not only written articles but also devotionals, radio ads, brochure copy, ad infinitum. I remember one assignment by a Times subsidiary. And this was in the 80s when such things weren't freely discussed. "Go out and write an article about head lice," the editor said. "How children contract it. How to get rid of it. Parents' reactions. Teachers' reactions. Treat it like a Parents magazine feature." So I did. (Yuck!) One of my weekly newspaper columns was entitled "Kristy's Kitchen" in which I wrote a homey story and then included a luscious tried-and-true recipe. In a few weeks, I'll be speaking in the town where I wrote that column, and after a lot of years, one of the attendees of the soon-coming event heard I'm coming to speak, and she said, "Oh, she's Kristy from 'Kristy's Kitchen.' She's a great writer. I hope she'll bring some recipes." When writing that column, my editor said to me one day, "Kristy, you're getting more letters than the Letters to the Editor page!" That was a high compliment. I had lots of fans. You know how women love recipes, especially good ones.


N - Nut. Sometimes my alter ego surfaces, and my shyness departs, and I'm a pure nut. Can tell the funniest jokes. I also thought of "nifty." The Flip Dictionary says synonyms for "nifty" are "excellent, sharp, terrific." Oh, Lord, grant that it'll be so.


Okay. Time to tag. For N, I tag Lenora Worth (** see below); for A, Tamera Alexander; and for N, Dina Nickerson.



I'll do it another way, using first names. For N, Nancy Moser; for A, Andrea Boeshaar; and for N, Nancy Farrier. Y'all have fun now, you hear?

** No, I'm not being a nut. I know her by her "N" initial.