Of course, not every girl in my grade school class was named Amy. There’s only one in this photo of my third grade class, but out of a grade cohort of 30 girls, there were 4 Amies and 1 Aimee. The point is: names go in and out of fashion, and if you’re unlucky enough to be named after a trend, you’ll go through grade school with an initial tacked onto your name to differentiate you from all the other Amies. Or Jacobs or Emmas.
Book titles are a little like this. As this funny piece points out, some trends become so entrenched that book titles are formulaic. The Something’s Daughter. The Art of Something. I joke that if my current novel had been published a few years ago it might have been called The Drug Dealer’s Daughter.
You spend years writing a book, kicking around possible titles, and finally settle on one. Then you discover that another book is coming out before yours with the exact same title. When the title What Belongs to You was chosen for my book, there weren’t any published books with that title, but in January 2016, a novel with that exact title will be published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
After a brief confab with my wonderful agent and my lovely editor at Thomas Dunne, my book is officially being retitled as All the Ugly and Wonderful Things. Now there are marketing and art meetings going on, out of which will come my cover. Currently it’s set for release in August 2016, so we’ve got a ways to go. Hopefully nobody steals my title before then. 😉 At least it’s not like accidentally naming a baby the most popular girl’s name of the decade. You can’t just rename a baby like you can a novel.
(Further notes on that class photo: notice the mishap of the two girls who came to school for class picture day wearing the same shirt, further compounded by the photographer who cruelly seated them next to each other. Also: why were all the girls made to sit, including the very tall girl who then had to hunch over to avoid blotting out the short kid behind her? If you can pick me out of this photo, you’ll also have the answer to why I prefer to wear all black. Seriously, if you’d had a childhood of unfortunate fashion missteps, wouldn’t you prefer the safety of monochrome?)
Bryn Greenwood 
i mostly noticed the style of sitting, all crossed the same way with hands on knee. Très chic, n’est ce pas?
I was always chucked in the back row, being a Giantess (til grade 7 & 8 when everybody caught up or surpassed my height). I was 5’2″ in grade 5. Still am!
Bummer about the title. I was PISSED when I couldn’t use Smoking Monkey for my phoney-bologna band name about 10 years ago. I picked it fair and square! Meh.
Overall, I’m not too impressed with photographer. Better the tall girl should have stood up than had to be scrunched. The crossed knee pose is just weird, but it’s clear I took to it in third grade. I really seem to be enjoying myself.
Is that you with the checkered pants? Those are sweet pants – I think I had checkered pants like that at almost every age. Sure, the shoes don’t go but whatevs. The look on your face makes the outfit.
I was one Amy out of five in Kindergarten in our rinky dink K-12 school. By the time we graduated, I was the only Amy left. I’m not sure where the other ones went as no one really moved in and out of Farmville.
Whatever the title of the book ends up being, I’m looking forward to reading it!
Now I’m going to go look for checkered pants in my current size. Seriously, I love crazy pants.
I was totally thinking of you when I wrote this post! Those pants, though! Pink checkered pants! I’m sure they were hand me downs from my sister, so I doubt they were in fashion when I wore them. But there is something to live in pants that so clearly don’t care what’s in fashion. I hope you find some nice checky pants.
My pink checkered pants were more of a bubble-gum colored. Super bright pink. They were fabulous. They were totally not in fashion and I didn’t care. That kind of sums up my clothing choices then – and now, really.
I have some plaid pants now but they are more for fall. The search is on for some summery checks, since we can wear summer clothes right up until the temps drop below 90. So I have a lot of time still.
It’s great to see you had that snarky look from an early age.
I think your new title is even better than the old one so maybe its a good thing someone stole your old one 😛 Everything happens for a reason after all!
LOVE the new title. VERY excited about having something new and interesting to read!! Wish I was famous enough to get an advance copy in order to provide a cover quote!
Yeah I picked you out, all the way on the right with that sultry, sassy look. And the sneakers, Of course the sneakers. Too cute.
Looking forward to the new novel no matter what the title!
LOL! I was definitely trying to work the old class photo.
I agree with the comment above, I like the new title better!
Also, who among us *didn’t* look like a true dork in grade 3?
What?! You’re saying I look like a dork? 😉 I think I never left that stage.
What a coincidence! I’m writing a book called “All the Wonderful Things are Ugly.” j/k!
My unrealized book of short fiction already has its title.. and right now I’m looking at a book on one of my trucks with almost the *exact* same. By the time I ever write it I’ll be too old to remember the title.
I like your original title better. The one they came up with is ok, but it’s a mouthful, I can see people getting it wrong alot. I guess working in a library has taught me something…
Lol! Yes, the new title is more complicated, but it is a pull quote from the novel, so I’m ok with it. On the upside if all people remember is the first 3 words, it’ll get them there. As for you, better get to writing. And then come up with a new title.
If you say so. 😉