PSEUDONYMN or NICKNAME: “Bill”

My legal name is John William Boushka, and my parents immediately gave me the nickname “Bill” when I was born in 1943. I have generally been called “Bill” (literally, like
“je m’appelle” in French!) my entire life and people who “know” me generally understand the nickname derivation.

In 1997, when I wrote self-published the first “do ask do tell” book, I wanted to keep my identity less obvious generally in public because of the controversial content in the book with gays in the military, with its unusual parallel to my own narrative starting in college, and potential employers. I was working for ING/Reliastar which had a major unit (USLICO) selling to military officers. We arranged a corporate transfer to Minneapolis in September in order to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest. I used the nickname “Bill” as a pseudo-pseudonym as the author’s name.

After “retirement” at the end of 2001 I still needed to be in the job market, as it would not be realistic to support myself immediately on the books alone. (Being popular and being candid are not always compatible.) I spent some time living at “home” in Arlington VA with mother until she passed away at the end of 2010. There was always a “risk” of hostile attention (which conceivably could have interfered with caregivers or other safety). None of that materialized.

Since 2011, there has been less of a reason for this, and a consistent identity centered around the legal name would be more desirable, especially given that I have a trust to manage. Nevertheless, I made no changes in my setup until the start of 2022, although I had announced the likelihood in a blog post in late February 2019 (before the pandemic but after considerable political and social unrest had started during the Trump administration).

So right now the strategy is to use “John W Boushka” or at least “j” in all online branding accounts going forward. The use of “Bill” will have ended by June 2022. Another factor in this process was Facebook’s requirement to use legal names for accounts (that has changed – pseudonyms can be used if they are legitimate businesses names and trademarks with their own accounting). So this change brings me into harmony with social media sites, also. (True, Facebook shouldn’t have so much power on how people brand themselves!)

However books by me with “Bill” as author will continue to be listed as such (my intention is to the end of 2023). New books (or motion picture scripts, even based on the books) will use the legal name as author, however, and be registered or sold that way.

Please also visit the “bill.boushka” directory for special information.

(Thursday, January 6, 2022).