I finally have a title for my new novel: Mad, Mad Love. The first draft is mostly finished, though I’m still revising it. This is probably my tenth title for the book…none of the previous working titles I had seemed quite right. It comes from a Mary Oliver poem which is included in the book. I’ve been reading lots of Mary Oliver lately…here is another one of hers that I love:
WORK, SOMETIMES
I was sad all day, and why not. There I was, books piled
on both sides of the table, paper stacked up, words
falling off my tongue.
The robins had been a long time singing, and now it
was beginning to rain.
What are we sure of? Happiness isn’t a town on a map,
or an early arrival, or a job well done, but good work
ongoing. Which is not likely to be the trifling around
with a poem.
Then it began raining hard, and the flowers in the yard
were full of lively fragrance.
You have had days like this, no doubt. And wasn’t it
wonderful, finally, to leave the room? Ah, what a
moment!
As for myself, I swung the door open. And there was
the wordless, singing world. And I ran for my life.
–Mary Oliver
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Though I haven’t had time to post much here the last few months (book deadline, essay deadlines, growing human being in stomach, etc.), Colleen Mondor at Chasing Ray asked me to be part of her “What A Girl Wants” series, so I’ve been contributing posts to that. A few links:
Vampires: Why? (Including my theory about the appeal of Twilight)