For those who didn't read "What's Really In A Name?" by Clarion this is an explaination of who Mara really is:

It's the last four letters of my middle name. Mara means "bitter" in more than one language. I chose it because I never had a nickname and it was easy to remember. I didn't know what it meant until one day I decided to look it up. Ironically enough I AM a bitter woman (I can thank "daddy" for that one) but I don't live my life as such. "Mara" is actually the side of me that would like to show her face often but is afraid to so she doesn't (My vulnerable side) Until I started writing I never expressed my bitterness (Or any other emotions of the like) in any form so she lives through my work. When I write I allow myself to be vunerable because I generally don't on the regular. "Mara" is my little secret.

With that being said when I refer to her in these letters I am refering to the side of me that feels, the weaker part of me (In some cases). She gets to feel things that "Johna" won't allow herself to. Sometimes the two tend to overlap but I think you get the point. And no, I don't have D.I.D. (LOL) Everyone has more than one side to them it's just that this one happens to have a name.