stuck for a title...

...both for this blog entry and for my thesis. I found a verse in a poem by Oscar Wilde that rather neatly sums up my novel's storyline, but somehow, Souls' House just doesn't have that ring I'm looking for in a book title. Still, here's the verse, from "Apologia":

Is it thy will – Love that I love so well –
That my Soul’s House should be a tortured spot
Wherein, like evil paramours, must dwell
The quenchless flame, the worm that dieth not?

Love you, Oscar! Wish I were as clever as you with titles (and words in general). Send me ideas from the ether, k?

I had another chat with my advisor yesterday. He reviewed my latest draft. He said it showed more confidence and direction. He suggested I play around with dialogue to create more tension - be elliptical, show the difference between what characters say and what they're really thinking and feeling. I have to turn in another draft at the end of the month. I've lost count of the number of drafts I've done of this thing. Shameful. (the number of drafts, that is; not that I've lost count of them)

And the timing of the next draft neatly segues into a manuscript swap with Joe-the-office-roomie, who has written a science fiction novel. I love sci fi. My dad got me into it as a kid. I used to watch old Doctor Who episodes with him. Love the TARDIS! Often I couldn't quite follow the tech speak, and the vampires and snakes and spiders creeped me out, but who cares? It was father-daughter bonding and the one night of the week I was allowed to stay up late.

I have a time-travel/paradox idea for a novel, and it involves Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and a heroine who is doing her level best to absorb the situation and not lose her mind. The plot needs to simmer a bit more though. I don't have it all worked out yet. Is there such a thing as sci fi chick lit? I have two children's novels to finish writing first though.

Do you see a pattern here? Not only am I not monogamous with my yarn projects, I also cheat on my writing projects. It all started when I developed the habit of reading several books at once. I grew up in the era when multi-tasking was the thing, and look what it's done to us - attention spans the length of a Q-tip, possibly even just the width.

Right. Time to fire up the cauldron that is my slow-cooker and get chicken soup going, and then back to thesis.