It was sometime in 2004 when it struck me that much of what I do is ego-based. The writing, especially. So, for some reason, I began thinking about what it would be like to do creative work anonymously. It seemed like an interesting notion, and so I set about figuring out how I might actually do it.
The first order of business was to create a new identity (or non-identity in this case) for myself. I knew I had to have the word “ego” in the name, and I knew I wanted something that was evocative of “alter-ego” while also implying “non-ego” or “anti-ego”. The word “falter” turned out to be ideal. The sense of “stumbling” was perfect.
I tried to create my non-identify as an email address (I think I was using Yahoo at the time), but unfortunately “falterego” was already in use. Instead of starting from scratch, though, I played around with the spelling, and eventually came up with “faltarego,” which looked good, sounded good, and magically added another level of meaning to the handle: An alter-ego that falters at the altar of the ego. Or something like that.
I haven’t really delved that deeply into creating work anonymously (yes, the ego is still in play), but the handle “Faltarego” has stuck with me, and I use it almost everywhere now.
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