I have a bit of an announcement to make. It is both happy and bittersweet. For nearly ten years, my manuscript has been created, nurtured, pruned, and grown under the title Full of Days. It was not the original title. The original title was a terrible, overly dramatic phrase I will not admit to here. Before the first draft was finished though, my little story had become Full of Days, and so it has remained… until now.
When I got into the nitty gritty of collaborating with the editor assigned to me by my publisher, she asked that I consider changing the title. The first time she asked, right there on the title page as her very first comment when the edits were sent to me, I mentally refused. She stated that title’s strength did not match the story’s strength. I frowned and muttered and thought how absurd the request seemed to be. The next time she mentioned it, I wondered if I should at least think about it. The third time she mentioned it, I’d spent a number of weeks reviewing her subtle changes and astute suggestions throughout the manuscript and had to humbly admit that maybe (just maybe) the editor knew what she was talking about. I don’t remember if there was a fourth mention. There might have been. I only know that by the time I reached the final page of the manuscript, completing my review of her work on my story, I was deeply grateful for how she’d sharpened the writing and developed my perspective on giving the reader the best possible version of the tale and characters I’d created.
Thus began my deliberation over the title. Oh, how I wrestled with it. By the time I sent a handful of title ideas to the publisher to get their opinion, I’d brainstormed and eliminated at least twenty possibilities. Always, in my mind, Full of Days was still in the running. It was a contender but not the guaranteed winner.
The goal was to create a title that captured the interest of a reader who knew nothing of the story itself. Someone who might be perusing books in this genre, looking for something new to intrigue them enough to at least read the back cover’s synopsis. The title needed to create curiosity and hint at the heart of the story.
Making the choice felt like renaming a newborn child after first deciding on a name quite early in the pregnancy. It was akin to spending all that time of nurturing and development calling the child by one name, then, upon meeting him face to face, realizing it simply is not the right name for him. It happens, and I imagine it is quite a bittersweet change to make in that moment. Such a change would transition from difficult and uncertain to happy and confident as the new moniker became familiar. That is exactly how I’d describe this process.
So, yes, after all that rambling, I am here to tell you that as of Tuesday, my upcoming novel has a new title! I invite you all to be on the lookout in the coming months for news of the release of the debut christian historical novel titled The Hidden Legacy.
Carrie In Writing 