Split Personality

I have to admit to living two lives. I guess that these days a lot of people are the same. I’ve got my Real World life – the one in which I’m an accounts manager for law firm responsible for the correct administration of our client’s money (in excess of £5 million most of the time – around $10 million). In my RWL I’m happily married (although we do fight like… well like husband and wife actually) with a two year old son who’s lovely most of the time and a pain in the arse the rest. I have an allotment, watch TV, you know, all the usual middle class suburban shit. In RW I’m still called Mark – but with a ‘k’.

Then there’s my online life. The one in which I’m Marc Nobbs – author of erotica and erotic romance (yes, I believe they are different and one day I’ll say why). Marc has his own website, is active on MySpace, not so active on Facebook (cause it’s filtered out by Mark’s work servers) and has had work published by Ruthies’ Club and Phaze.

And these are two different people – that’s why one spells his name with a ‘k’ and the other spells it with a ‘c’. These two people fight for control of my free time. One wants to spend it with his son – desperate not to miss out on the short time he’s got before he becomes a surly teenager embarrassed by his old man. The other wants to write, edit, promote and write. It’s hard keeping them apart. It’s hard reconciling their opposing wants and needs. But I manage.

Now, I’ve got a problem. It’s called friends reunited. You know, the website that lists all you old school friends. It’s great – a way to keep in touch with all the people I’ve lost contact with after leaving home (and moving to another part of the country). But my problem is that it’s an online thing. And online, I’m Marc. But for friends reunited, I need to be Mark – or else no one will know me. That means I now have to be three people. Online Marc, Online Mark and RW Mark. Talk about a split personality. I think I’m heading for a breakdown.