The Book Smart Wolf

Well gosh crap it's snowing.

My new office window!

So, I recently completed my goal of reading and viewing all Harry Potter literary and film installments. Thoughts after reading: I wish I was Harry Potter.

Writing the NaNo while finishing Harry Potter has given me a whole new perspective on world and character building, and the scope by which Mrs. Rowling managed to juggle so much in such a perfectly executed fashion. It boggles me that her mind was able to store so much, though I'm beginning to learn that with the power of Microsoft Excel anything is possible.

My own novel is struggling with elements of brooding darkness and quirkiness that don't seem to mix. I'm getting the word count down for sure; writing isn't the issue, it's feeling accomplished in what I've written. My wolves are wearing glasses and listening to '50s doo-wop music one minute then debating the handling of a severed head the next. They're dealing with a haunted canoe, falling in love, missing their moms, hunting down ghosts, discussing the merits of devouring the haunted canoe . . . I guess it's silly of me to expect anything real to come of this project. I went into it knowing it'd be just for kicks. But since when am I a werewolf novelist?

Also. Due to my husband's fervent dislike of the title On All Fours, here are some other titles for your consideration:

Red Riding (turns out this is the title to a TV series)
The Book Smart Wolf (serious consideration at this point)
Muzzle (boring)
Wolf Like Me (TV On the Radio song title)
Haters Gonna Hate Now Let's Go A'Howlin (made this one up on the spot while typing this post)

I worry that anything with "wolf" in the title will be tossed aside as another Blood & Chocolate or Twilight knockoff. Lord help me, if I ever attempt to publish this thing I'll need a good query letter to sever that connection, but when you're an agent with a daily slush pile to tackle, the wrong title can set a bad taste in the mouth that spoils the rest of the letter. Hmm.

Oh, and for the record, Harry Potter was a much better boyfriend than The Hunger Games. By far.