I just want to thank Daniel Hatadi for taking the time to create our very own "Authors" section. I know this is a lot of work for you to manage and maintain and I'm sure I speak for many when I say "Many thanks, Daniel."
I am in complete agreement. I am more of a reader than a writer. Advanced in age but with still enough marbles in the brain department, I satisfy my writing urges with letters to the editor and an occasional rant at some local yokel just like me. I enjoy reading what the experts say and finding out what it is like in the trenches. My trench time was spent in the public education sector. I loved my students when I taught English in high school but was not happy with all the committee meetings, compliance with government rules, etc. Later I thoroughly enjoyed teaching English to foreign students while working for over twenty years for a couple of libraries. Bravo to all the busy bees from a retiree who has a pension for life.! :-)
Thanks from me too. I just added my Author profile and even managed to use a little HTML to get the paragraph breaks I wanted. This may not impress any techies, but it's a miracle to me. BTW, someone has suggested putting the names in last-name alphabetical order. Pleeeeeease, nooooooo! We Zs are at the end of the line all too often as it is. Not to mention how readers have to bend, squat, or kneel, even grovel, to find us on the bookstore or library shelves. Give us a break!
Oh no! I never thought about being down at the bottom shelf. Then again, I am usually located very near Janet Evanovich. Whether or not this helps my sales, I haven't a clue, but I'm grateful nonetheless.
What's in a name?--"A rose by any other name..." However, I think that one's first name is more important than the last. One is born into a family and thus is given his last name over which there is little control unless he changes it later in life.
When I was a teenager, I was told by my father that everyone had once had our last name, Smith, until he did
something wrong. Of course my father was a great jokester, so my retort to Dad was "What about when a woman gets married and her last name changes?" He didn't reply. Maybe that is why authors have pseudonyms. :-}