The Novel Without a Name Has a Name!

And so does the next one...

Well, it’s been a long, hard road, but we finally have a name, folks! And, honestly, I have you guys to thank for it, because it was your comments on this post that convinced me to stick to my guns, meaning the new name for The Novel Which Was Previously Without a Name But Which Now Has One isssss…..

PRE-ORDER IT HERE!

In other words: I WON.

As you can probably imagine, this naming of the novel was not without its difficulties, and the difficulties, they were manifold. Well, they were twofold, really.

First, I had to convince Terry. (Who is my husband but also my business partner, and thus is the person in charge of the marketing and financial side of our business. I’m annoying even myself at this point by constantly explaining this, but I keep getting new subscribers who will have no idea who ‘Terry’ is if I don’t, and I also don’t want you all to think I have to ask my husband for permission to do things, because I don’t, hence the repeated explanation. And now the explanation-for-the-explanation. Wow. Hate this.)

Where was I?

Oh yeah: I had to convince Terry; not because’s he’s the boss, but simply because we’re a team, and we both have to be on board with these things. And, at first, Terry was not to be convinced. He thought ‘Ghostwriter’ was not a good title; that it would be too long to look good on the cover, and that it “wouldn’t translate well” into other languages, when we finally get around to doing that. He also kept describing it as “chintzy”, which … I don’t think he knows what “chintzy” means? Anyway.

Naturally, the more Terry dug his heels in about Ghostwriter as a title, the more convinced I became that it was The One. The One Title to Rule Them All, as it were. I would not be told otherwise.

Then I came up with an EVEN BETTER TITLE, and suddenly I was all about that, because that’s the kind of inconsistent, shiny-new-object person I am, unfortunately.

I was ALL ABOUT the new title. It required some minor changes to the actual book, just to make New Title make sense, but that was OK: I was willing to do it, because it would be worth it to get to use Shiny New Title. I made the changes to the manuscript. I changed the name of the book on my Reedsy editor, and on the folder I have for it on my computer. I wrote it in the front of my notebook. I started designing covers. There was no going back.

Then, one day early last week I was busy working on the novel with the new and shiny name, and I realised that this book was 100% The Ghostwriter of Christmas Past. Like, it was screaming out to be called that. The entire ethos of it was Ghostwriter of Christmas Past. It was written into the very bones of it. And new title was still a great title, but it was not the right title for this particular book.

I knew it, but I did not want to admit it. Especially not to Terry. Because now that I’d come up with Shiny New Title, I really wanted to use it. But I also wanted to use Ghostwriter. (And, I mean, it’s not as if I’m likely to ever write another book about a ghostwriter, so I felt like if I didn’t use it now, for this book, then that would be it; the opportunity would be lost forever. And I hate it when that happens.) I literally lost sleep over this, people; I actually lay awake comparing the two titles, and wondering how on earth I could make them both work. And finally I realized there was only one way to do it:

I would have to write TWO books.

And, I mean, this is both good news and bad news. The good news is that, when I’m done, I’ll have two books, both alike in dignity with titles I love.

The bad news is … well, now I have two books to write, rather than just one.

Yes.

The other good news, though, is that when I presented this plan to Terry, he was surprisingly quick to get on board with it — mostly because mo’ books = mo’ money, and, to be totally honest, we’ve been poor for so long now that mo’ money would be a big help, really. And I was so enthused about my plan, and my titles, that I’d come up with a plot idea I really like within about 48 hours, so we are good to go, people. We are doing this. I changed the title of Current Book to Ghostwriter. I ordered a notebook with the title of Next Book on it so I can start making notes for it.

And then, the very next day, I came up with ANOTHER title that I secretly think would be even better for the ghostwriter book. But, of course, I’m absolutely NOT going to be changing it yet again so … I guess I have three books to write now?

(And all of this, I guess, is a good example of what I was talking about in this post, about how back-to-front my writing process is. I genuinely can’t feel happy about a work in progress unless I know what the title is going to be. I feel like it shapes the whole thing. I think it’s one of the reasons I’ve struggled with this one so much, actually. It’s either that, or it’s just a terrible book, and … on second thoughts, let’s not even go there…)

Anyway. Yesterday I went for a walk after the school run, which I’ve been doing lately in a bid to try to get some exercise in before I start work for the day. (On Wednesday I actually went for TWO walks, because when I got back from the first one, I realized I didn’t have the charging case for my AirPods, which I was wearing at the time, and assumed it must have fallen out of my pocket at some point during my walk. So I carefully retraced my steps and did the entire walk again, only to find the stupid charging case case lying on Max’s bed a few hours after I got home. On the plus side, I did 18,000 steps that day. On the minus side, I’m an idiot…) It was one of those mild autumn days where the sky is very blue and the light is almost golden (Yes, I know: I’m speaking like one of those annoying Autumn People from the Internet here. Don’t worry, I’ll be back to my usual self next week), and as I reached the halfway point of my walk and turned around to come home I found myself thinking about how completely wild it is that I get to go for a walk on a crisp October morning, when most people are stuck at work, then come home to completely make shit up for a living.

But I do. And that’s largely down to those of you who’ve been kind enough to read my books and this newsletter, and to keep on doing it even though I sometimes go off on weird tangents, like that thing about the AirPod case up there. Sorry about that. (I was walking for almost two hours, though! And it was in the house the entire time!) So thank you for doing that, because it really is everything.

Anyway, the title change is so fresh that Amazon have so far only updated the title and not the cover, which I guess makes this a “newsletter exclusive”. One day, when this book has made me rich and famous, you’ll be able to sit there and tell your grandchildren, “Ah, I remember the day Amber announced the title of that book to the 24 people who actually read her newsletter, and, in an unrelated turn of events, also thought she’d lost her AirPod charging case.” And your grandchildren will say, “What’s an ‘AirPod’, grandma?”, and “Let’s get you back to the nursing home now”. But you and I will both know it’s true. And that I walked for 2 HOURS that day, but they were IN THE FREAKING HOUSE the entire time.

Until next week,

P.S. You can pre-order The Ghostwriter of Christmas Past here, and rest assured that when it arrives, it will come with the correct cover. Or, at least, I hope so…