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May 02, 2004

sara laughs

filed under simply defies categorization

Just a brief entry today, mostly to answer a question somebody asked me at the writers conference I just attended in Gig Harbor. This person wondered if the name of this website (which is also the name of my corporate entity; I've been a teeny tiny little S-corp for a good while) has to do with a bible story. Apparently there is such a story in the bible, with a Sara, who laughs.

The answer is, no. Absolutely, no. Nothing to do with the bible, or anything religious. I am firmly, unapologetically agnostic, and on the few occasions I consult the bible is has to do with research for something I'm writing. Agnostic, if that word has you worried, only means that I acknowledge my own limitations. I see no evidence of any kind of higher power, but admit the possibility exists, if only because the universe is so large and (for the moment at least) unknowable. I do believe, very strongly, in the separation of church and state. I believe in freedom of religion and (very specifically) in freedom from religion. I choose the latter. If that's clear, now, I'll tell you where the name SaraLaughs does come from:

I had to come up with a corporate name, back when the first novel came out oh so long ago now, and I didn't want to use SaraDonati, Inc. Why? I dunno. It just didn't sound right or feel right. So I was thinking about Sara as a kind of alterego and it occured to me that she's always laughing when I consult her. The name popped into my head, and from there jumped onto paper, and thus you have SaraLaughs, Inc. and saralaughs.com

So I'm back home, as I said, and I see quite a few comments are waiting for me. I'll try to answer most or all of them tomorrow.

May 2, 2004 05:08 PM

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Comments

Thanks for the background.

The first time I saw the name of your webpage I thought of The Stephen King book "Bag of Bones" which had a house named Sara Laughs in it.

Link here:
http://www.stephenking.com/pages/Works/Bag_of_Bones/

(Stephen King is one of my OTHER favorite novelists) (I re-read his books too)

Posted by: Lanna Lee Maheux at May 2, 2004 08:38 PM

I meant to say (and thanks for reminding me) that if I had read Bag of Bones before I set up SaraLaughs, I probably wouldn't have used the name. Just to avoid comparison. But what's done is done.

(I quite liked Bag of Bones, but it isn't in my top five King books, either.)

Posted by: sara at May 3, 2004 05:51 AM

i did not give it a second thought. There are so many different things that could be tied to language, phrases and such because of the depth and the diversitility of our language, i try not to connect things. Being a ViSUaL ArTisT, i reaLLy am surprised when someone tries to find a hidden meaning in my work. Then again, it is there for anyone's interpretation. We each precieve both written and visual in so many different ways. JMHO.

Posted by: joanna at May 4, 2004 10:29 AM