I can't even express how heavy this has been weighing on my mind. I don't really like to blog about my problems while they are happening, so this is why I was pretty silent these last few weeks. Just when we were wrapping things up with the novel that I thought was called SILVER GIRL, this popped up on Amazon.
I was totally devastated. It was decided that I should change my title because it's bad bad news to have two books called the same thing pubbing in the same season. Just imagine if you heard me on NPR or something talking abotu MY Silver Girl and you see a big-a display for this other book and bought it.
I cried, y'all and cried some more. You know how when Charlie Brown and them cry and the tears fly out from around their heads like bullets? Well that was me. Projectile weeping.
I had invested so much in the title SILVER GIRL. What was going to happen with all my plans for my Silver Party? And even more than that, was the feeling that I was not in control of my book and by extension my life. As Shirley Anne Williams said in her masterpiece Dessa Rose-- Can't I have nothing?
The up side of this is that my friends really came through. My phone was blowing up with folks sending titles. My daddy really went above and beyond. He said he felt like he was trying to win a prize off the radio. My favorite title he sent was "Hey! What Do You Mean That's Your Daddy?" (The novel is about a bigamist--two wives, two daughters, one big secret.) All my friends came through with suggestions, but nothing was quite perfect. We came really close, I am freiends with some really smart people, but still...
Then, in a phone brainstorming session with my friend Mitchell we came up with the best title ever. Even better than my beloved SIVLER GIRL. We were discussion something else entirely and he said, "I know my portion." I said, "What do you mean by that." He said, "It's from the song, His Eye Is On The Sparrow. 'Jesus is my portion.'" I almost choked on my cup of coffee. That song is in my novel like three times.
And with that, SILVER SPARROW, was born.
I feel good about the title and I love that I came to it with the help of all my friends and family. When I wrote this novel I was at a very isolated period in my life. I was on my own and I pulled through, but while it was good to know that I could do it all by myself, it was sad, too. So this little crisis at the end allowed me to ask for, and to receive help. The book is really finished now. It's been blessed with love.
So, ladies and gents--
SILVER SPARROW to be published by Algonquin Books on May 24, 2011.
Ashe.
Monday, January 17, 2011
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