After much stopping and starting, mostly stopping, it seems lately, thanks to characters taking unauthorized trips into and out of the storyline, novel #2 is about ready to post...except I need to review it again and see what hidden formatting gremlins I've missed...and I don't like the title that I started with.
I dislike the title so much that I'm not even going to mention it here, lest some detractor (most likely one of my kids) look at the new title, whatever it winds up being, and say, "That's the best you could come up with?"
I thought I had a really good title, but of course some other joker already took it. I don't want to be the kind of writer that jacks other writer's titles. Ludlum, Forsythe, or some other famous and successful writer can get away with that type of stuff. We hacks, though, especially ones like me who sell in the mid single digits, should refrain from such nonsense.
(Side note...one of the good things about being an unsuccessful novelist is that you tend to know exactly who bought your stuff, and can call and thank them personally. Let's see Ludlum top that!)
I don't like wrestling with titles. They are important, I know, but I'm not very good at it, and as a result I get very frustrated. This new novel is a little over 300 pages and is close to 90,000 words, and I think it's fairly engaging (notice that I said, "engaging" and not "good." I don't know how good it is), but after writing those 90,000 words I'm stuck for a five word title.
This may be one of the reasons that writers drink.
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