There’s Not An App for That

Seems there is an app for everything these days.  There isn’t an app to help create a title for a blog, book, or essay.  Believe me, I looked for one.  I can think of  hundreds of words for a post but struggle for what seems like hours to find a title.  Even after deciding on a title, I don’t usually like it.  I often see blog posts or books with eye catching titles and wonder how the author chose it.

I saw an article recently entitled, “Chicken, Pot, Pie – Sounds So Much Better with Commas.”   Another one that made me laugh was, “Tampons and Chocolate.”  One of my favorite bloggers is “Abby Gabs.”  That is a great title for the blog, and she always has great post titles like, “Tips for My Funeral. ”

Why am I on a rant about titles?  I wrote a post a couple of days ago and I racked my brain for a long time for a title.  I came up with, “Remembering An Old Friend.”  Yeah-it’s not original or appealing.  You wouldn’t see that title and feel compelled to read the post.  It also didn’t capture the essence of what I wrote.   A couple of friends told me they were surprised the post was not about my friend who died a few years ago.  I write a post about her and that time in my life every year since she died.  I didn’t write one this year and I’m not sure why.  Grief presents in different ways at different times and I just couldn’t write about it this year.

Several of the comments about the post reflected on the teacher I mentioned. While she was an important character in the post, no one seemed to connect the “old friend” with the book and the fictional character in the post.  Perhaps if the title had been “Remembering a Book Filled with Four Letter Words,” or ” I Was In Love With A Fictional Teenage Rebel,” readers might have perceived it differently.

I have to admit that I have the same struggle with the books I am writing.   I have  changed the title on one of them at least a dozen times. Of course, I’ve changed the direction of the book with each title change.  Perhaps this is why it is taking so long to finish it.  ” Mothers, Monsters, Madness, And Miracles,”  “It’s All in My Head,” and  “How Did I Get Here From There?” are a few of the titles I have considered.

If any of you develop an app for creating titles, please let me know.  Until that time please send me any ideas that might help me come up with great titles for my posts or my books.  Otherwise, I might have to stop writing.  Coming up with titles is just too stressful.