Oh, I Have So Many Names

Yup, Al Pacino/The Devil quote there.

So, I believe I have mentioned that my goal is to publish the sequel to "Birth of a Sidekick" at the beginning of next month.  I'm about halfway through the final pass (I found one paragraph with three typos in it . . . who am I, Drac Von Stoller?), and then I will go ahead and put it up on Amazon, before finishing up the audio version.

Dave Krummenacher kindly offered to do the cover for me again, which I'm posting below.  More great work from that man right there. 

The problem is: it still doesn't have a title.

I have never struggled with a title like this one before.  The notebook version and the MS Word file are both called "Birth of a Sidekick 2," but I'll be gosh-darned if I'm going to name it something that lazy.  Sorry about the language, kids.

I wanted something that sounded like (or meant the same thing as) "Second Chance for a Sidekick," but couldn't come up with one that jumped out at me ("A Sidekick's Second Chance" didn't sound quite right either, and I was/am unable to think of a single word that means "second chance").

I drove to meet Big, turning off my radio and focusing solely on the title.  "A Sidekick's New Life?"  "Toil of a Sidekick?"  "A Sidekick's Struggles?"  "Hard Luck for a Sidekick?"  "A Sidekick Goes Forth?"  I came up with about thirty possible titles in that time (I also couldn't think of a single word that means "growing pains**"), but still failed to find one that felt right.  I talked Big's ear off about it for another hour, and he gave me some feedback on a few that I liked but didn't love. 

I wonder if I have to love one of these titles.  It may sound like California Rish, but I really liked the title "Birth of a Sidekick," back in 2005, and still like it now.  "Challenge for a Sidekick" and "A Sidekick Struggles" are both good, but still not what I want.  I want a title that tells you it's a new adventure in the life of Ben Parks, but also fits this particular story, if I'm gonna go on telling them.

So, I'm giving up.  I'm going to list my five "finalists," if you will, and see what my fans/friends tell me. 

1.  Wanderings of a Sidekick
2.  A Sidekick's Endeavor
3.  Sojourn of a Sidekick
4.  A Sidekick's Passage
5.  A Sidekick's Journey/Journey of a Sidekick

All of those seem fine, but nothing really speaks to me.  Let me know, in the comments below, if you feel spoken to.

A couple titles, such as "The Travails of a Sidekick" and "The Labors of a Sidekick" will have to wait for a future story, alongside "Clash of the Sidekicks," and Big's favorite, "Death of a Sidekick."  Hopefully that last one will be a long ways off.

Rish

*That's probably a rhetorical question, but I can easily recall falling in love with my titles for stories (such as "Silent Night of the Living Dead," and "The Toy Room") I hadn't even written yet.  And a couple of those I never even finished, despite being so proud of the name I'd come up with.

**Big did suggest "The Wonder Years of a Sidekick."  Which is so bad, it's almost not bad.