Pen names are a PIA, unless you're using one to differentiate between different genres in which you write (i.e.,it's not supposed to be a secret). Like
Mr Nobody , I am published as a teeny fish in the ocean
Before I was print published, I had established a presence online, and in that capacity had gotten into a few tussles with a pack of Goodreads trolls--rabid fans of a writer whose actions were questionable, and I questioned them.
As my own name is (as far as I can tell) absolutely unique and at the time easily Googleable (is that even a word?
), and those fans were at that time posting the home addresses of people with whom they were upset, along with encouragement to harass those people, I decided that it was only fair to my family to use a pseudonym.
Fast forward: Name is still unique, but not so easily Googleable (I've dropped some activities that had published phone number and address in their newsletters), and I wish I'd just ridden the storm out and published under my own name.
Here's a hard truth: Personal narratives can be interesting, but often aren't as compelling as the writer thinks they will be because the writer's judgment is clouded with emotional baggage that most readers will not share. Those that do share those feelings usually demand absolute honesty--they want to feel connected in every way with the writer, and if there is a hint that the writer has been coy they will figuratively eviscerate that person. Examples of this are numerous. "Write from life" is curious advice, and should be handled with care. Most lives are banal, to be honest, and reading is what one does to escape them for a little while. Look, most everyone will use bits and pieces of real life in their writing; that's a given. The trick is to pick what would resonate with someone outside of your own experience. Most of the time that means fictionalizing the personal to make it more universal. A writer of fiction walks a delicate line: you want to create a unique character/story, but you have to leave room for the reader to slide into the story and feel like they are in the driver's seat, experiencing the events of the story first hand.
If you are set on keeping the personal VERY personal (i.e., easily identifiable), be brave enough to use your own name--after all, at that point it is YOUR story, not one that could reasonably belong to a reader.
Just my 2 cents