The cult of celebrities # 2 - The joy of not being a celebrity

I have been asked by many why I do not publish work under my own name.

I am not ashamed of my name or myself. I have done my mistakes which includes a fishy tale which landed me on the frontpage of Norway's biggest selling newspaper a couple of years ago.
I have always owned up to my mistakes and have probably got more work and a better life because of that fishy tale and other mistakes I have done and promptly owned up to. In my culture, it is acceptable to do mistakes as long as you own up to them, apologise and eat the humble pies. Only fools and idiots never admits to their mistakes and only God himself never does mistakes.

My publishers and editors has argued that I would significant increase my earnings if I was published under my real name. They may be right. But money is not an issue for me.

The reason why I use a pseudo author name is very simple:  I am very happy to blend into the landscape as anonymous as possible. To be able to go about in my daily life without being typecast. My girlfriend works in the police and is being typecast as a police officer everywhere she goes. This is not something I want to experience myself.

I am also, as I wrote in # 1, vehemently opposed to this celebrity culture. I do not like this culture at all and that also goes to how I want to be treated. When I am not sweating over a manuscript or a deadline for a newspaper, I am very happy to blend into the landscape as one of the many IT consultants in my area. For me; being anonymous is a wonderful thing and something I will never swap with what too many kids dreams about: A celebrity life.

But I respect those in my profession who want to be a celebrity. But each to their own and what works for me does not necessary works for anyone else. Life is life.