Titles, otherwise known as the bane of my existence

This was inspired by a Buzzfeed thing (article? link? Whatever, I like thing) about things all writers understand. My favorite was a list of questions taken from Tumblr and the last one was 'HOW DO I TITLE?'

This spoke to my little writer soul because in case you didn't know I FUCKING HATE having to a pick a title.

It sucks. It's like trying to summarize your whole book into a few words and I struggle boiling it down into two lengthy paragraphs. 

For those of you who might be thinking, Oh please, it can be abstract or Just reference something important in the book or Stop being a whiny writer.

To the third person, bite me. Seriously. Then I'll have a reason to beat you senseless with my Shakespeare book.

The other two, okay, yes, when you put it like that it sounds easier. But it's just freaking not. Do you remember how I referred to Black & Gold as The Stupid Book for months because I didn't have a title for it yet? I have a whole document dedicated to possible titles and let me tell you, all of them suck. The one I picked isn't the greatest but it sucks the least. 

I thought I had it all figured out ahead of time for the second book when I named it Crown & Claw. Then, as I revised, I slowly realized that that is not a good title. 

And promptly pretended I didn't know that because having to think of a new title made my little writer soul very, very angry. 

Of course, I got over it and texted my boyfriend possible title combinations before settling on one I think I like. I'm not making any promises though. I might still change my mind. So for now, the second book is going to be called Throne & Fire.

It's not freaking over though. Because I still have to name the trilogy. The nice thing about titling a single book is it usually does contain some concrete themes and ideas and events to go on. But how do you take three books' worth of plot and characters and condense it into a single title?

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. 

That's not even the end, because I still have only half a title for the third book.

HOW DO I TITLE????

Just Some Thoughts

"The only thing worse than writing is not writing."

I see some variation on this quote all over the place. Some of you probably scoff and roll your eyes. Writers, you chuckle, always so melodramatic. 

I admit, the sentiment can come across as an exaggeration. Sometimes, I roll my own eyes because some people love to tell everyone how important their writing is to them. I roll my eyes not because I don't believe them but because I believe that the most important things are not the things you shout from the rooftops.

For me, at least, 'not writing' is just as important. That's the time when I think things through, figure out where I want to go. 

Take the third book of the trilogy (which I realize I have to name soon...ugh. Titles suck balls.) I've had a general idea of the ending since I realized Black & Gold was going somewhere. But now I'm coming up on the time when I can write it. So I've started thinking about what else needs to happen.

Let me tell you, I am full of ideas. They bounce around my head like five year olds on a sugar high at Chucky Cheese. I want more than anything to put them on paper, turn them into an outline and plunge into the story headfirst. I know it will make me happy. I know it will be difficult and frustrating and exhilarating and sobering and exhausting. But I want it.

This is a time when I agree. I can't start writing this next story until I finish this draft of the second book (now officially re-titled as Throne & Fire). I can't start until I finish school.

To say I've never wanted anything more would be an extravagant exaggeration. But I want this even more than I want it to be summer.

So, okay, maybe that's a little melodramatic. But come on, I've got half a dozen people who won't shut up in my head. The only way to quiet them down is to write their story.

April and Almost Being Done

The next two weeks for me in school are what I believe could be found in the dictionary as a description for 'hellish'. I have two big research papers due with five days of each other as well as a proposal for another research paper that requires me to have already read two of my sources due somewhere in between the full length papers. I'm training to run a distance farther than I have run in almost two years.

Oh, and my parents are coming to visit in the weekend in the middle of everything. Which means yummy food and my mom will probably buy me shoes (and what girl doesn't like new shoes?) and my dad will reassure me that going to law school isn't just signing up for another three years of hellish Aprils.

It would be easy to put my book on the back-burner for a little while. I've definitely accepted that about querying for B & G but I refuse to let that happen with the second book. Strange as it sounds, and as much as I can bitch about how hard it is, working on my book is one of the ways I manage my stress levels. 

But after these two weeks, my life in college gets a lot easier. Like, a lot. Yes, I still have finals to study for and yes, I still have to study for the LSAT on June 6, but those are spread out over a few weeks. So I know I can do it.

And after June 6, I'm done. Which means....it's almost time to start writing the final book in my trilogy. 

*cue trumpets*

Isn't that exciting? Honestly, I'm not as in awe as you might expect. In high school, I wrote a series of five books, so finishing three in the same series doesn't feel like a new experience for me.

Except that I have absolutely no idea where to start. Ever since I finished Black & Gold, I've been jotting down random ideas for the third book in various journals but that's not a plot. Yeah, I know the big things that happen and yes, I know how it ends. But everything else? I have only a vague idea.

The solution to that is to make an outline. Some authors are strict about outlines and others just sort of jump in and figure it out as they go along. I was the first kind of author for the second book and the second kind of author for the first book.

Three years ago, I had to write the outline for the fifth book in that series I mentioned. It took me being stuck on an airplane for three hours for me to actually get it done. And let me tell you, I spent a lot of time looking out the window at the clouds because I wanted to be doing anything else.

I'm hoping that's not what happens with this outline because I have no plane rides to force me to get it done. I also can't let myself start until after I take the LSAT, for a number of reasons, chief among them that the LSAT is just a little important. Actually, pretty damn important.

Once I finish this draft of the second book (which I'm in the middle of re-titling by the way), I'll start giving it to people to read. And I'll start writing the third book (only have half the title.)

Hot damn, we're almost to summer! 

See what I did there? No? Okay, I'll let myself out.