Found out this week that Guarding the Waters is a finalist (and ranked first) in the Heart of the Rockies contest.
http://crw-rwa.ning.com/page/2011-hotr-finalists
Woohoo!

Titles are funny. At least, these days they try to be. Most titles are riffs on something that came before -- a literary classic, a popular TV show, a slogan. Nowhere is this more true than in the world of paranormal romance fiction, which I'm trying to break into. (A recent vampire novel carries the title Eat Prey Love. You get the drift.) 

But here's the thing -- my titles aren't funny (Guarding the Waters, Reading the Waters, Bridging the Waters). The characters within the stories are funny and snarky, but the titles, well, they're earnest. Will earnest sell?

On a road trip not long ago, my husband Chris and I made a list of pun-driven titles that would fit the world of the novel -- the Four Arcs, also known as the Realm, an island haven from the 21st century that lives by the rhythms of the moon. Chris has had 30 years of headline-writing experience, so some of them are rather clever. Those are the ones he came up with. Any that fall flat are my creations. Here's the list:

Arc, Wind, & Fire (my personal favorite)
Catcher in the Realm
Stranger in a Strange Realm
Gone with the Waters
Waters Waters Everywhere
Haven and Hell
Ain't This the Haven?
Barefoot in the Arc
Realm Fever
A Tale of Two Warriors
A Midsummer Night's Skirmish
Whatever Luna Wants...
Noah's Arc
No Place to Arc
Arc Avenue
One Day in the Arc with Greta
The Diva Wore a Leather Breastshield

Feel free to add to the list. Just remember -- be clever, not earnest. 

Maybe I'm going overboard with this collage thing, but I can't seem to stop myself. Made a collage tonight to frame the map of the Four Arcs -- trying to capture the flavor of the four very different landscapes. Not sure I pulled it off, but it was fun trying.

I love Jenny Crusie, and not surprisingly, I loved her collage workshop at RWA. Inspired, I went back home and set to work (actually play) on a collage of the Four Arcs series. Here's what I have so far -- the first attempt and a later version with a bit more detail.

What a great week in NYC! I pitched to an amazing agent and two amazing editors. Now to submit the manuscript!

With fellow GRW member Alicia McCalla at the RITA Awards Ceremony

Guarding the Waters was featured on the Dear Author blog! Read responses to the novel's opening. So many encouraging comments (constructive criticism, too) and from some amazing writers I admire -- Shannon Stacey, Courtney Milan, Tamara Hogan, Gennita Low.

Jane does aspiring writers a great service by providing this forum for feedback. 

This weekend I attended the Keble Ball, and while I didn't LOSE my shoes, I was tempted to kick them off. Seems that fancy footwear was one more thing (along with yoga pants, a turtleneck...) I forgot to pack for this Maymester study abroad program at Oxford University. I'm traveling with a group of university students, who had even more fun than I did at the ball. And they didn't get home at the stroke of midnight. But I did.

Tomorrow -- we take the Bodleian Library oath and marvel at all the books, books, books.