"Marilyn Renee" is a name, which came to me in a dream many years ago. When I looked up the names, they were very significant -- both individually -- and in combination. "Marilyn" meant, "much bitterness," and "Renee," meant "peace, born again." Together they mean, "transformation." Because of this I later published a Christian magazine entitled, "Butterflly." I did this via desktop publication with very few copies and later posted a couple of the articles from it on a web site of mine with the intention of possibly making the magazine available in e-book format later. *** More about my pen name...I selected the name in the dream to use as my pen name for my poetry and most of my prose. I chose "Monet," the name of one of my favorite artists for the last name. However, I did not want to use the name in my artwork because I did not want to give any indication that I in any way placed my art in the same ranks as his work. Also, I wanted to honor my birthfather, so I began to use my maiden name, "MC Kerley" in my artwork and music. Some of my music is published on Soundclick under that name.

I think it has given artists like myself who have had little or no exposure the chance to get our work into the public eye much quicker than with agents and without the corruption I have heard so much about in publishing and recording.

Not sure.

I did have some minor successes with the few pieces of my writing I sent off when I was younger. One poem entitled, "Alas, My Beloved Son!" was accepted by the American Poetry Association for publication. However, for various reasons I did not get to send it back. It was the first piece of writing I ever attempted to submit for publication. Anytime an editor writes any notes in their own hand, even on a rejection slip, it means they are interested in your work and want to see more. I also did get a bit of critique and good feedback from publishers even though most of the few other works I sent were not accepted. I failed the check out the market for particular publishers and they would send a form letter rejection, stating it did not suit their particular needs. In college I got very good feedback from my instructors. One instructor published two of my poems in the college art and literary magazine. She later told me that various students had made good comments about my work and that my "experimental style" might make me famous one day (I'm not sure fame is such a good thing, another reason I like my pen name. In today's times though, with so much progress in media technology, it is not likely one can remain anonymous one their work becomes popular. Thus, the reason for confessing on my part). Other good comments came from a professor in a creative writer's group I and a friend helped to establish. The group was started before we joined but it was not formally organized or established with an other organization. We helped establish it with the local arts council, which provided a regular place to meet and other benefits. Still, other good feedback came from guests to my web sites. God really has blessed what little work I have been able to get exposed, thusfar.

In the area of writing poetry and prose, I enjoyed Robert Frost. He used the simplest of words, yet his work was extremely popular. In fact, I think that is what gave him an edge. The average person could easily interpret his work and enjoy it. For me, it is much the same way. Though English was one of the subjects I excelled at and I had a vast vocabulary I did not want to use many large words in my writing, especially poetry. My feelings are that if we write and a large percent of people do not understand it -- then what have we actually accomplished -- and how many people have we actually reached with what is in our hearts?

I have so many. Actually, I think I have found something beautiful in most places I have been. New Bern, NC is one of my favorite spots.

These days I do most of my creative work on my Mac -- whether it is composing digital music, artwork, or poetry.