What's in a Name?

One thing they never tell you about child raising is that for the rest of your life, at the drop of a hat, you are expected to know your child's name and how old he or she is. ~Erma Bombeck

That's true for mamas and also for writers. I'll be giving a book talk and somebody will ask something about one of the characters in my book. They will have forgotten the name, but they expect me to remember. That's certainly understandable. They didn't invent them and live with them for a year or more while they were writing their stories. No, that was me, but sometimes the names slip away, especially if it wasn't a major character in the story.

You see, there are a lot of people to name in a novel. Of course you start out with the main characters, your hero and heroine. Then you start fleshing them in with family members and friends. Think about all the people in your own extended family. Add in the people you went to school with. Now the ones you've worked with. Oh, and all those people at church. And don't forget your Facebook friends. 

Names circle us like a swarm of bees. Sometimes the names stick and rise up to our lips when we need to speak the name. Sometimes the name is firmly entrenched in our brain, but it refuses to come out where we can say it. At least, not when we want it to. It generally shows up hours later while we're thinking about something totally different. The name will pop into our head out of the blue and sometimes we'll say we knew it started with a "J" or whatever letter. 

I have named dozens and dozens of characters. Some years ago, I started keeping a record of my major characters' names. That's supposed to help keep me from using the same names over and over. I tend to like some names more than others. 

I'm editing a book I wrote several years ago that never found a publisher. I decided I needed to change one of my secondary character's name. I have seen other writers ask their Facebook friends for help with name, so I decided to do the same. I asked what they would name the small town newspaper editor. He's the kind of guy that sort of rubs people the wrong way with his questions since they feel he's always trying to get a story out of them. But he's not a bad guy. He does want the town to do well, but he also wants to sell newspaper. He's in his late thirties and the story is set in the 1990's here in Kentucky. His last name is Leland.

I had originally named him Miles which I do like, but it's too much like my main character's name, Michael. Readers might get confused if they were reading fast about who was who. So I asked my Facebook friends what they would name this guy. And before morning I had over 80 comments. Now, after a few days, I've gotten around 125 names. 

So tonight, for fun, I wrote down all the great suggestions. The amazing thing is that in all those names, there weren't all that many repeat suggestions. Clark was the most suggested name with 7. Phil or Phillip was runner-up with 6. Most of the names were single suggestions. Everybody had a different idea of what to name my pesky little editor. I wanted a one syllable name and there were many suggestions that had me nodding my head and thinking, yes, that might work. But he's just one guy and so he only needs one name. I've already tried Lloyd. No one suggested that name. And Kyle. Two or three suggested that name. Those names didn't seem to fit. And so, right now I'm going with Hank. That was suggested by a couple of people. 

Hank Leland. What do you think? Does that sound like a pesky newspaper man who is always ready to dig for a story? If not, what do you suggest? 

Naming characters is actually a fun part of writing fiction. But I do like for the name to fit. Sometimes that takes some brainstorming before a writer can settle on the perfect name. And sometimes that name gets changed and then changed again. 

No wonder I can't remember some of my characters' names. Could be, I'm still considering changing those names. LOL.

Fun with Housework and Cluttered Desks

If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, what is the significance of a clean desk? ~Dr. Laurence J. Peter

A writer needs a little clutter going in her head. Got to pull those stories from somewhere. But I did finally almost get my desk cleaned off today. (I didn't show the corner that still has a pile of stuff to do something with.) 

I should have taken a before picture so you could have seen what weeks of dumping everything on the desk for later looked like. While I was working toward my deadline on the new book, I didn't have time to deal with some of the things coming across my desk. Well, that's a bit misleading. Those things didn't go "across" my desk. They landed on my desk and stuck to it like the bottom side of whatever it was had glue. 

A place for everything and everything in its place. That's great advice - except for a writer like me who hates throwing away anything related to that writing. The letter my editor sent me three books ago. The scraps of paper with inspiring quotes on them. The catalogs with my books listed in them. I can't throw those away! The Valentine card my husband gave me - three years ago. A granddaughter's Kindergarten graduation program. Various and sundry bulletins from church. A 2012 calendar. Oops, now I'm wondering if the stuff on my desk has only been building for weeks. Maybe it was months. 

Come to think of it, I'm sure it has been months. It's been more than months that I've been taking turns sitting with Mom. That's been three years now. As someone told me once, it's like having two full time jobs. Sitting with Mom and writing. That doesn't leave a lot of time for decluttering my desk or my bookshelves. Things get postponed. Those things pile up. But eventually the piles get too tall. Eventually I finish the last book and look forward to a new book. I seem to need the desk cleared off to get that fresh start on the new idea. My sister is already asking me if I've started on the new book. I don't think she wants to hear me whining about a deadline racing my way if I delay the writing too long. 

Perhaps my problem is that housework is not my favorite thing. My husband once told me - while I was not too happily cleaning up the stove after cooking his breakfast - that a lot of women loved cleaning. Guess he's not married to one of those "lot of women." 

I'm more in Erma Bombeck's camp. My idea of housework is to sweep the room with a glance. 

Or I have to confess to being right there with Phyllis Diller about ironing. I'm eighteen years behind in my ironing. There's no use doing it now, it doesn't fit anybody I know. My husband's shirts get dusty waiting for me to iron them and then they have to be washed again and the whole cycle starts over. Like Phyllis says, he's probably outgrown them by now anyway. 

And isn't this the truth? Housekeeping is like being caught in a revolving door. —Marcelene Cox

But I did find this quote from A.A. Milne to be too true today as I cleaned off my desk. One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries. 

I don't know that the discoveries were exciting, but I did find something I had searched high and low for, but not in the right pile of stuff. I knew it had to be there somewhere. I'm hoping I put it in a place where I will find it when I look for it again. 

But tonight I'm going to let Ruby Lou Barnhill have the last word. A bright person can always think of something better to do than housework. 

Well, almost the last word. What household chore do you hate the most? I've always hated dusting. Not a hard job, just one that seems so futile. And go ahead, you "lot of women" and tell me how much you love cleaning and the household chores you like. LOL!

P.S. If you're reading this, Tarasa, look close at the calendar. It's on the right day!!!