… so I thought I’d update the ol’ blog with some news on my work-in-progress (apparently I promised to do this a few weeks ago and forgot!).

Anyway, the new novel, which I’ve been working on since early-September, is at the 160 pg. (+/-) mark. I’d hoped to have it done by Christmas, but (obviously!) that didn’t pan out. I’m now thinking that the first draft will be complete in late-January to mid-February, followed by weeks of intense editing. March 1st is looking more realistic for a release date.

So what’s this novel called? And what’s it about?

Funny you should ask, because I’ve been pulling my hair out trying to name this sucker and summarize it in a few short-but-intriguing sentences. (If you ask me, good titles are harder to write than entire novels. Blurbs are a close second.)

Here are two potential titles (neither of which I’m in love with) that I’ve been tossing around as possibilities:

Love in the Mix

OR

Emmaline’s Not-So-Secret Recipe for Getting a Life

And here’s a rough blurb:

Recent college grad Emmaline Waters’s real life is shaping up to be a bit too real.

Instead of a plum journalism job (or whatever bottom-rung drudgery in the news business she can drum up to get her too-tight dress through the door), she’s slinging cocktails to tipsy construction workers at Boston’s finest dive bar.

Instead of a sexy husband-in-training who worships the ground her wobbly heels clack upon, she’s muddling through a new relationship with a mildly self-absorbed boyfriend who screens her calls and disappears at a moment’s notice for impromptu “business meetings.”

Instead of a luxurious, big-city address with a jovial doorman and expansive water views, she’s biding her time in the cramped loft above a genius cardiologist’s garage with a mousy PhD-candidate roommate who might as well be a ghost.

So when Emmaline lands an interview for a food critic job at the Boston Sunday Times, she’s sure she has (finally!) stumbled onto the road to success. But soon an unexpected detour—in the form of Mark Loffel, her high school one-night stand—(re)appears, sending Emmaline’s life spinning in a whole new direction.

When the dust settles, will Emmaline have the life of her dreams? Or will she be happy just to get a life?

Here’s my take on where we’re at with the blurb:

This blurb has a few hiccups, in my opinion. First, it’s too flippant. It makes the MC, Emmaline, sound as if she’s a prime candidate for the cast of Desperate Housewives 2.0. (She’s not, btw. She’s got actual problems–explored comically, of course–that are the driving force of the novel. I like to think of the book as the American Bridget Jones with Complications.) In essence, the tone of the blurb  is off.

Plus, in an effort to avoid spoilers, there’s a major plot twist I’ve withheld (no, I’m not going to reveal it here!) that, because it’s a bit more serious, makes the blurb seem misleading. I don’t want readers picking up the novel thinking they’re getting pure, unadulterated brain candy and finding out that–egads!!!–it has a plot. And some (albeit lighthearted) depth.

That’s my conundrum in a nutshell. Suggestions, anyone?

And the titles … 

The titles are OKAY, I guess. But I’d really like something more memorable/attention grabbing/in sync with the story. Ideally, a play on words/pun would work, if only I was smart enough to hatch the right one!

Help me, pretty, pretty please! I’ll owe you forever! (Warning: if your title is right for the book, I just might steal use it! No takesies backsies!)

[Note: at some point, I will post actual excerpts of the novel. For now, though, we'll have to make do with the bits and pieces we've got. It ain't pretty, but it's something.]