Name three guys...

Do you remember those questionnaires from friends we used to get at school that asked you to fill in a bunch of answers and then they would give you the reasons at the end?

IE: Name three guys... the 1st name is the guy you like, the 2nd name is the guy you hate and the 3rd name is the guy you love!

I think we all have a list of guy and girl names in our heads that we like or absolutely love.
Okay, maybe it's just me.

Recently it seems that all the guy names that I want to use are all ready being used heavily in writing. I leafed through a book yesterday and there was the name 'Jack'... my current lead character. 'Colin' I saw on a newly discovered blog page and I used that in my first book.
Since they are great names, I think its okay that I still use them but its gettin' kinda weird.
I'm also fond of Jake but of course until the whole Twilight thing calms down Jake/Jacob is out of the question.
I'm more of a nickname kind of girl even though I think there is a trend to use full names of guys and girls lately.
I like to shorten.
Hell, my own son's name is down to just one letter!

I did just read on someone's blog that they felt that character names weren't important while you are writing, only when you would be submitting.
Couldn't disagree more. A character name helps me to develop the character. Do I use a title with their name, do I use Mr./Mrs., do I use a shortened version or a nickname.
I think this all helps to round out a character; give them substance. This is what works for me.

I have some new followers, thanks to the blog hop I joined yesterday.
So, welcome and I hope I don't bore you too quickly.

To give you a quick rundown on ... well, me ... I am older (ish) than I would like to be, I have one child and one husband. I work part-time and need to expand that.
I write contemporary romance and I may or may not be good at it.
I submitted my first story earlier this year to agents and publishers and all I heard was...*cricket*.
I sent some of my work to a critique partner that I found and they were pretty vocal about how much like a writer I am not. I took it pretty hard and then dusted my self off and have finally begun to write again.
I'm not saying that they were right or wrong but I enjoy writing too much to stop now.
But I don't believe that my work will hold up to today's industry standards and I'm not sure I have the *insert funny phrase here* to start learning how to be an 'author' now.

So, I will keep writing.
I will keep reading.
And I will continue to find and read other like-minded blogs and hopefully that will be enough to sustain me.

I appreciate the visit.