I have inadvertently offended a reader with a throwaway line about a soul singer with the same name as mine that I DO admit I should have given more thought to. What has emerged however, is that bloggers have no idea who reads their blogs. There’s no feedback unless a reader makes a point of posting a comment.

Many comments that come to me are from advertisers. Others are complimentary as apparently some readers find them useful. Please keep sending those. They lift my spirits no end. Rarely do I get one that throws me. This morning, I did.

The result is that I have yet again discovered that names are funny things. I had always been aware that there was a singer who had the same name as mine. Because he was male and therefore the ‘Goldie’ had to be a nickname, I joked about it when answering a questionnaire. Unlike the other Goldie,  my name is real. Truly!!!!By the way, google tells me that there are 83 Goldie Alexanders just in the United States!

I have never liked my name. Because of it, I always felt different, and can’t understand why anyone would take it on willingly. I can’t begin to explain how often I am asked if Goldie is a nickname or for real? My primary school days were a horror because of it. Picture being the only child with a funny name when the roll is called, and the entire class – all called Mary, Jane, Pat, Betty, nice conventional Anglo names – titters?

I come up on google as “Goldie Alexander: author”. So if there has been some confusion I guess this is the price of being a blogger. I can’t control, much less quarrel, with what appears on the net.

But take this as a word of warning if you are planning to write a book, or anything else for that matter. My experience is that there will always be someone who takes offense at what you write. Or accuses you of using them as one of your personalities in your latest fiction. Or even accuses you of plagiarizing.

WARNING: It’s dangerous out there in cyberspace.

PS. My next blog will obviously be about WHAT’S IN A NAME or TITLES!