You may be noticing an interesting thing about my blog. Don’t worry - it’s still me, your local friendly fangirl writer. But I will be addressing this interesting thing at the end of the post.

So, this has been an accurate representation of me writing my blog post this week.

Me: Wow, I’m actually on top of things and sharing my writing with my followers! *writes complete blog post about Camp NaNo novel, gets ready to publish it*
Life: You may want to rethink that..... *throws lemons*
Me: *gets hit on the head with lemons* What the heck?? *looks at lemons*
Me: Actually, this would be a good blog post topic. *types entire thing up on Friday*

Yeah, this has been kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing, but some really weird stuff happened on Thursday for me, and one of them has been quite interesting.

On Thursday, I was working like normal on a checkout lane in our local grocery store. I finished checking someone out, and the cashier next to me, out of the blue, just says, “How are you so happy all the time?”

I was like, “Um. What????”

To be honest, I’d never really thought of what I was doing as being “happy.” Sure, I was smiling to the customers, and asking polite questions, but I didn’t really think that qualified as “happy.”

So, of course, I took the question to bed and pondered it on-and-off for like an hour, along with some other stuff. But I didn’t get anything productive out of it.

But I’ve thought about it a little more since then.

I think there’s a difference between being happy and seeming happy. Anyone can feel happy, but is that true happiness? Or is that just the happiness that this world can offer?

I, for one, don’t think I was truly happy at that point; I was just being polite.

And I think true happiness can’t come from anything in this world. It can only come from God.

Am I saying that I’m not happy if, for example, we go to Florida? Absolutely not. If I went to Florida, I would be very happy. But that would be a temporary happiness, one that the world offers, and would probably fade as soon as I left Florida.

And to be truly happy, I believe that you need to know God, and know what he’s doing, and do it willingly.

Life isn’t always going to be cooperative, but we have to try our hardest. After all, didn’t the Blessed Virgin say on multiple occasions, “I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the next”?

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Anyways, those are just my thoughts on the matter. I hope you understood what I was getting at there.

Now, on to the announcements!
Maybe you noticed it. Maybe you didn’t. But you’re going to notice it now.

Did you see my About Me page?

Yep. That’s right.

Where’s the name you used to know? Who’s “Nicole Dust?”

Well . . . that’s me.

I’ve been thinking about doing this for a while, but I finally decided to do it just a couple days ago.

I decided to get a pen name.

And here’s why:

• Right now, I really want to keep my personal life and my writing life separate. 
• Also, I kind of still think it’s weird that people know my actual name.
• Um. Pen names are cool! #secretidentity