Sunday, January 24, 2010

Name game

Ah, it begins.
After the writing, the editing, the rewriting.
The nervous fits. The periods of elation and depression.
The novel is finished. Well, has been for some time. But the submitting, the revisions, the acceptance!!
And now it really is going to come out later this year - but the title.
The dratted title.
I'm no good at this name game. I stuck "Feral" on the MSS although I knew it sounded more like a horror novel than a domestic tale. It's bobbed along the literary tides with that name ever since grad school.
But Kevin Watson, publisher and editor and dear friend, thinks I can do better.
Well....
I hope maybe HE can do better, because I am indeed lousy at this.
There's a program that will examine the words in your title and tell you if it will be a Big Hit. Maybe .... I wrote a sestina using the words the NY Times article says will guarantee internet hits, such as "cancer" and "green" and "sex."
"Green Sex in the Piedmont"? Not quite the thing....

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