We have a working title! It’s “All the Way Home”. This dance plays an important role in the book and the title of the dance fits well with the overall theme of the book.

This won’t necessarily be the book’s title. Titles often change as books evolve (At’s Amore’s working title was “Cuando”), but I’ve got a feeling this one is going to stick.

I’ve written elsewhere (here and here) about the impact a name has on the development of a character. Before the character has a name, it is pretty maleable. You can make the character nicer, or meaner, or taller, or shorter. But, for me, once the character has a name, it becomes “real”. Some set of neurons in my brain gets assigned to “be” that character and the character begins to develop like a person. I can no longer make wholesale changes. In fact, sometimes the character grows in unexpected ways. It all starts with the name.

I wonder if book titles have the same effect? “Cuando” was never a particularly good fit, so the book never really bent itself around the name. But “All the Way Home”… We’ll see.

Lots of progress on the story line. I got another lesson in how much better it is to have a partner. I came down all excited about a new idea that might help bridge two chapters. I told Jean, and she suggested an alternative which was much better. A little back and forth and we ended up with a third way that was better than either.

Besides, it’s fun!

We’re down to the last couple of “Needs Work” sections of the story outline now. Then it’ll be time to “boot” Alan, Shelly, et al back up by re-reading both books. Can’t wait!