So much!
That's why I'm rethinking my title.
It's just not gripping me by the throat these days.
And if it doesn't grip me, will it really grip a casual reader as they peruse the bookshelf?
No -- the question is, will it grip an editor -- will it grip an agent? Will the title Green Corn and Porch Music provoke anybody to look beyond the title and read the first line? Page? Chapter?
I'm thinking . . . no.
I don't say this lightly. It will be hard for me to let it go. Not because I'm married to it or think it's perfect. Simply because it's become habit to refer to my book by this title.
And there is one person in my writing group who sings the praises of this title. But I think that's because it describes two parts of my character's life. Not because it's the kind of title that you'll never forget.
Every time I walk into a bookstore, I stop in front of the bestsellers and study the covers, saying the titles in my heads over and over. They are GOOD. Really clever. I'd love to interview the author or agent or editor or whoever it was that came up with each one. This is just not my thing! In fact, truth be told, I'd love to submit my novel with a blank where the title goes and say, "You all are the pros -- you tell me what will sell this novel."
Don't think I'm an extra trusting person -- it's just that I've scratched my head over this, and studied award-winning titles, best-seller titles, even bad titles, and still come up with nothing.
That is, until the other day, when I was listening to a song by Fleet Foxes. They had a line that almost got by me, and it would have, had they not repeated it...and I thought, "Hmmm. Now that's thought provoking as a title, especially with my story." I twisted the words around a bit and now I'm ruminating...
Maybe I've got something.
My story is made up. Fiction.
If the moon is shining, or if it's hiding its face -- only I as creator know the truth.
True enough.
But.....
It's historical fiction.
And that means it's a made up story that takes place within a real time period.
So. . . if the moon wasn't really shining on July 4, 1832, let's say, shouldn't my characters have a hard time seeing in the dark?
Oh, please. Nobody's going to know if the moon was shining on a certain day that long ago!
But what if somebody did know, and my credibility as a writer fell apart?
It's beat-your-head-against-the-wall-and-go-do-your-research time.
The whole time I was looking up moon phases for 1838 I kept muttering, "This is ridiculous!"
When I opened my wiki and put the new, half and full moons on the calendars for my book, I stopped muttering.
When I got to the day I'd been writing about, and saw how the moon phase affected how I would write the scene I was working on (i.e., no, my characters wouldn't be able to see each other after the storm, because the moon was in the new stage -- they'd be lucky to see the hand in front of their face!), I moaned. I had to change EVERYTHING!
BUT -- wow! My scene is so much better now. As a writer I had to rely on all senses other than the visual.
And let's face it -- if I hadn't forced myself to be true to history (even if I was the only one who knew) I would've taken the easy route, and there ALWAYS would've been a full moon illuminating faces!
Love all kinds of music, but when Cadillac Sky posted that they just came out with a new EP called Weary Angel, I went ga ga for it. You HAVE to hear it!
And as long as I'm talking about music that makes me ga ga, I can't wait for my sweetie to put his latest creation on You-tube. He's got a few things out there (rickocaster) but his latest makes us start groovin' to the beat every time he cranks it up.
It's amazing to me what music does to the soul. My brother has a special morning set list on his Ipod that he plays to set the tempo for the day. I have certain music that wakes me up when my audiobooks are putting me to sleep in traffic. Last weekend the fam was talking about how many centuries beer songs have been around -- Christians would be amazed at all the old hymns they sing that once hailed mugs of beer raised to the same tunes! (very different words...)
I for one couldn't live without music.
Pass me my Ipod, please.
I'm longing -- and I mean LONGING -- for the mountains of TN and NC. In a big way. Like I was sitting in my father-in-law's backyard the other day with family, and I found if I closed my eyes halfway I could imagine mountains in the distance instead of two story houses, and temps in the 70's instead of 90's.
Okay, that one took some doing.
Sarah said, "That's just sick."
Yeah, it kind of is.
So I got out the pics from last year's vacation to Townsend, TN and relived it this morning. I thought that was a little more conventional.
Here, I'll share.
Say it three times fast!
It's a Hawaiian word. My kids at school love saying it. And they've become pretty good at using one.
And I'm getting there.
It's an online tool for collaborating, or for just writing and changing information at will.
Actually, I'm using one for the purpose of planning my novel.
Since I HATE outlining -- SO BORING!!!!! -- it's a great way of 1)keeping up with details in research, 2) putting down where you want your story to go, 3) jotting down logistical details like how many miles from one place to another and how much time it would take to walk from here to there. Papers get lost; wikis don't. At least, not if you remember what you've named them. (That's why you write it down. . . preferably somewhere you can easily find it, along with all your computer passwords)
You can also post pictures to your wiki. I've found a lot of pictures of places that I've put on this blog that I've also put on my wiki. Some are just on my wiki, to remind me of what my characters see when they are walking on the Trail of Tears (since I live so far from the locale of my book, I rely heavily on memories and pictures).
Will I share my wiki with you? No. It's strictly for my eyes only, like a messy workbook in progress. But I thought I'd share the idea with you in case you wanted to use it.
Here are some wiki sites to check out:
www.pbworks.com
www.wikispaces.com
Happy Wiki-ing!
And for me that means get-down-to-writing time! What a joy!
For now . . .
Maybe I won't be saying that when I fully realize that writing day after day is every bit the solitary act that it really is. My head knows that, but the rest of me says, Yeah, but still, give me this as a full time career and I'd be happy as a clam.
My head: Uh-huh. Talk to me in August.
That self-argument aside, I'm so excited to have time to sit down and read one of the resources I ordered from the museum in Cherokee, NC. It's called Voices from The Trail of Tears, by Vicki Rozema. I could hug that lady! She's put together one of the nicest pieces of eyewitness accounts I've seen. It's so readable. She's included journal entries from soldiers who are viewing the Cherokee removal in 1838 from a military viewpoint; journal entries from missionaries, who are bleeding hearts for their friends, the Cherokees, and are on the trail with them; and a journal section from a prominent Cherokee. She's included letters from politicians and newspaper articles of that day and time, reflecting the anglo viewpoint; and an editorial written by the editor of the Cherokee newspaper. There's tons more, all adding up to a well-rounded, firsthand look at the Trail of Tears.
This is just the kind of thing I've been searching for!
I'm just wondering that -- and this is totally against my blog topic, by the way. But I'm troubled by recent happenings, and most of all by where my daughter should have been today, but thank God, wasn't: in a locked-down college.
So what's the deal with April?
I mean, there was the Branch Davidian tragedy. April. Then there was the Oklahoma City bombing. April. And Columbine. April. Virginia Tech. April.
What's up with that?
A few people have answered, it's the change of seasons. It's getting warmer. But we seem to make the transfer to summer just fine. What's up with leaving winter behind?
It's truly disturbing.
Today when Sarah called me to tell me that her school was on lockdown, but that she was at home because she didn't feel well, I was so grateful. And I'm thankful that apparently the reported gunman was not a reality, just a terrible phone threat. But the question remains: What's up with April?
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