Thu 12 Jun 2008
Kissing Games of the World: right here in my house
Posted by sandi under books, fiction writing, writing
[20] Comments
Here it is: the advanced readers’ copy of the new book, which will come out in November.
It arrived this morning, and of course I stopped doing everything else I was supposed to be doing, and just sat down with it and gazed upon it, just the way you’d need to look at your newborn baby if it had somehow just come in on the UPS truck.
I still haven’t finished editing the page proofs, so it felt a bit surreal to see this all bound up like a real book, when there are still about 1,347,523 typos that need to be corrected, but I didn’t hold that against it. Instead, I carried it through the house and sang it a few songs, introduced it to the dog, and set it on the kitchen counter so it could look out over the rest of the house and sort of settle in.
It’s called “Kissing Games of the World,” as you can plainly see, which is the title I dreamed one night, a funny dream really, in which my husband claimed he’d written a book proposal with that as the title. His book was going to be an expose of kissing games, and so far he had thought up two of them: Post Office and Spin the Bottle. As soon as he came up with more, he would get a huge advance.
It hit me that this was a perfect title for the book I was writing at the time…about Nate, a salesman, who travels all over the world having relationships of no consequence. One of the other characters accuses him of just participating in kissing games, as a way of avoiding true feelings.
Naming books is always so hard for me. (The one I’m working on now still doesn’t even have a working title.) My first book was called “The Fortune Teller’s Daughter” in my head, except that it took me so long to finish it that somebody else wrote a book with that title, so we had to choose another. It became “What Comes After Crazy.”
The second book, “A Piece of Normal” was named by a friend of mine who mentioned that one of the crazier characters seemed to be seeking just that–a piece of normal, after her wacky childhood.
But this book–well, it’s nice when the title just comes to you in a dream, even if somebody else in the dream was about to use it himself.
How do YOU get your titles? Please, please tell me!
20 Responses to “ Kissing Games of the World: right here in my house ”
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Kissing Games of the World: right here in my house » Sandi Kahn Shelton
June 13th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Oh congratulations! What could be more exciting than a just born book -other than a just born baby or puppy 🙂
I love the title and the cover- both are very eye catching, and will entice readers.
Titles are the hardest things for me as well. I’ve got several short stories sitting in folders without names, poor things. I was hoping that when they were finished, the title would someone evolve from the story. Sadly, not yet. Maybe they will come to me in dreams 😉
June 14th, 2008 at 12:03 am
Wow, Sandy, where have I been? I love the title and love the cover! Just found you in one of my google alerts and I said I’ll go check out what Sandy’s been up to lately and you have a new book!
June 14th, 2008 at 9:05 am
Soooo exciting! I wish everyone could see what I’ve seen (since I’ve met this new baby in person–hee hee)–the spine of the book is both classy and incredibly eye-catching, so even if it’s not faced out on bookstore shelves, it’s just going to hop right down and into the hands of readers. Who are going to be very, very happy.
June 14th, 2008 at 10:08 am
The cover looks great. I can’t wait to read the book!
As far as titles go, these take me the longest time to get right. If I have a line I particularly like, I may use a phrase from that. Otherwise, I just wait around or try multiple titles until one sticks. And then I change it again.
June 14th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
WHATTT??? You don’t like all the titles I’ve been obsessively sending you? Here’s another one: “What I Meant to Say Was…”
Just kidding. Congrats, Sandele!
June 14th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
Becca, thank you so much for visiting again. It’s so sad when stories have to sit around unnamed, isn’t it? Naming my kids wasn’t even this hard!! (I love your blog, and am adding you to my blogroll.)
Dorothy, can’t wait to go on another tour of the blogosphere with you at the helm! Glad you stopped by.
Nancy, you are so good to notice the spine of my book!
Julie, I know. I just name and rename books and stories until finally time runs out, and an editor takes it out of my hands. It’s such a scary part!
And Beth, your titles are AMAZING! My favorite so far is “Wash, Rinse and Repeat.” Unfortunately, it won’t go with my new book. I’ll have to write another book just for that title. Although I have to say that “What I Meant to Say Was…” just might come very close to being what I need. It reminds me of Alice Munro’s wonderful title, “Something I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You.”
June 16th, 2008 at 9:51 am
Here’s another:
Your Mama Don’t Dance
June 18th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Aw, no. Don’t tell me I can’t name my second novel “Untitled Thing Set in London.” You break my heart.
The cover’s really great! I’d buy that book in a second.
June 20th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
A new book. How Exciting!!!
I remember hearing Paul McCartney say that “Let it Be” came to him in a dream. I guess it’s God’s way of helping writers out.
June 23rd, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Oh, Sandi, it’s BEAUTIFUL!!! I keep looking at the cover. I always hate when a wonderful book (and I know that Kissing Games will be!) is saddled with a horrible cover. As for your title, I got chills when I read your description of how it came to you. Don’t you just love the way the subconscious works? I can’t wait until November.
April 22nd, 2009 at 12:45 pm
I just love your blog! Very good topic!
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