Title Troubles

Carina Press wants me to change the title of my hockey book(s). I had titled it HARD TO RESIST. The rest of the series would follow the HARD TO ___ pattern. They didn't like that. They want me to inject more of a sports feel into the titles.

Hm. 

I spent hours Thursday and Friday brainstorming. I went to Amazon and Carina Press to look at the hockey romance/sports romance titles that had already been used. 

Here's what I found:  Offside, Offsides, Collide, Hat Trick, Taking Shots, Trying to Score, Blue Lines, Empty Net, Off Her Game, Play the Man, Fresh Ice, Face Off of the Heart, Jilted.

Face Off of the Heart amused me.

My goal was to end up with a title idea that could be used for the entire series so that readers could tell the book was part of the Barracuda series, just by looking at the title.

I brainstormed a bunch of words I thought I might be able to use:  Play, Ice, Shot, Stick, Score, Win, Skate, Game. Some of them were hockey specific, some were just sports-y.

Then I started really brainstorming. Here's the list I ended up with on my Evernotes app. I wrote everything down, even the stupid ones. 

Playing to Win

At All Costs

Hard Won Victory

Stick Work

Crossing the Line

Game Winner

Power Play

Playing the System

On the Breakaway

Dropping the Gloves

82 Games

Head Up, Stick Down

Home Ice

On the Stick

Tape to Tape

Odd Man Rush

Roughing

__ On Ice

Fear on Ice 

Pride on Ice

Love on Ice 

Against ____

Against the Odds

Against the Boards

Against the Wall

Against the Glass 

Too late to make a long story short, but I ended up liking the idea of using prepositional phrases, with each title adapted to fit that particular story. When I'm introduced to my editor, Melissa Johnson, I will propose that HARD TO RESIST be changed to IN THE ZONE. I'll also suggest that the next two books be called OUT OF THE GAME and AGAINST THE BOARDS. 

I'd love to hear what people think. 

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

I have loved hockey romance since reading Rachel Gibson's See Jane Score in 2003. I have loved almost all her Chinook series books. I loved feeling like I was seeing behind-the-scenes of the sport, a sport about which at the time I knew absolutely nothing. It didn't matter. I still loved and enjoyed those books.

And now I'm about to be on the author side of hockey romance because Carina Press wants to publish HARD TO RESIST! No. Scratch that. They want my hockey book PLUS the second hockey book I haven't even written yet!

Fist pump.

They want to develop a marketing plan for my hockey romance series. Yeah, baby. That's what I'm talking about. I have begun to daydream about Julia Quinn Bridgerton Series type success.

Photo by ME. This was taken when I went to a Kings practice at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo. I had an absolute blast. At the time I had a hard time identifying the players because I didn't know them by number. If I went today, it would be a completely different story. I know my boys.

And by the way, they're still in the running for the Stanley Cup. Sunday is Game 6 against the San Jose Sharks. I can't wait.

Living in Limbo

On April 7, I participated in #CarinaPitch. This was a one-day Twitter event that allowed authors to pitch their books to Carina Press editors using a maximum of 2 tweets. It was a blast. I pitched my hockey romance, HARD TO RESIST, the first in a series about the fictional NHL team, the San Diego Barracudas.

My 2 tweet pitch read:

#CarinaPitch NHL News: Nurse accosted by irate fan while in line for an autograph. San Diego Barracuda Tim Stockdale defends her. 

Stockdale after the fight, "You don't treat women that way. Ever." #CarinaPitch #HockeyRomance 

To my delight, three editors requested to see the manuscript, Mallory Braus, Melissa Johnson, and Angela James. After a crazy weekend spent polishing the book, I submitted it.

Now, only ten more days remain until the purported deadline to hear from Carina about my hockey book, HARD TO RESIST. I really have no idea if this is a valid deadline. It's more like I heard a rumor about a rumor that the editors will get back to us by the end of May.

I have been hard at work on a second hockey book, tentatively titled HARD BODY. It was going to be a short novella, but now it looks as if it may actually be Book 2 in the Barracuda series. The characters had more to say than I had anticipated.

Photo by Prilfish (cc)

Terms of Endearment #10

Leaner - (n.) Filling a trash can or similar container with water, leaning it up against the door of a teammate's hotel room, knocking, and running for the hills.

Hockey players can be nothing more than little boys with facial hair. This is something I really adore, if you want to know the truth. In this hockey series I'm writing, you will see many examples of this. Some might look at this type of behavior as immature. Sure it is. No argument there. But I also think it's funny as hell. I love practical jokes.

So do Los Angeles Kings players, Dustin Penner and Mike Richards. Dustin is a very funny man. He has no problem laughing at himself, as is evident from the following Twitter conversation he had with Richards.

Penner posted this picture and tweeted: Do not try and steam clean your dress shirt w/out making sure the shower/tub combo drain is open. #housekeeping.

Richards: @DustinPenner25 ever hear of an iron?

Penner: @MRichie_10 Stay out of this Rick! This is between me and the tub. Also don't open your door #leaner

Richards: @DustinPenner25 I actually just walked out of my room and the water has made its way in front of my door. Leaner not needed.

I. Love. This.

I hope readers like it too because this is exactly the kind of manly stuff I'm trying to show in my books. I hope it shows the friendship and camaraderie between the teammates, their senses of humor, their humility, their sense of fun.

Terms of Endearment #9

Light the lamp - (v.) To score a goal.

There's a red light that goes on when a goal is scored. Sometimes it rotates, like the light on top of an ambulance.

Photo by Burns! (cc)

FAN MOMENT

By now you know I'm a big Los Angeles Kings fan. I really don't know what inspired me to do it, but I reworked the song, "My Favorite Things" from the Sound of Music to fit the LA Kings. It took me hours. It was really hard to get the names of the players in there. I didn't even succeed in naming everyone. I probably could have, but the song was already way too long.

Anyway, I tweeted it today to a few Kings people, and Patrick O'Neal, Fox Sports West TV reporter, tweeted me back. OMG. I about fell over.

"wow, nice work. I sang..."

That made all the work worth it. Here's the song. Feel free to sing along yourself. :)

My Favorite Things

 (To be sung to the tune from the Sound of Music)

by @Kate_Willoughby

Shots stopped and gloves dropped and sweet empty netters

Stanley Cup patches on LA Kings’ sweaters

Brownie our Captain, a cunning Right Wing

These are a few of my favorite things

Both Jons in goal on the road to the Playoffs

Richards and Stolly both winning the face-offs

Jake in the box for a hit with some sting

These are a few of my favorite things

When the Shark bites

When the Hawk strikes

When it’s looks like war

I simply remember my favorite Kings

Will capture the Cup once more!

Foxy and Evans, O’Neal and Miller

Shorthanded goals made by penalty killers

Number eleven, that nimble Slovene

These are a few of my favorite things

Pucks cleared and Pen's beard and multiple hat tricks

Power plays gained off of somebody’s high stick

Nolan and Clifford both taking a swing

These are a few of my favorite things

When you lose teeth

When your team’s beat

When it’s looks like war

I simply remember my favorite Kings

Will capture the Cup once more!

Men in home jerseys who kick ass and take names

Road trips that finish a series in four games

Carts on a break’way: my heart starts to sing

These are a few of my favorite things

Lewy and Dewy, a match made in heaven

Clogging the lanes we see “old” number seven

Days with Lord Stanley and Tiffany rings

These are a few of my favorite things

When your skull cracks

When your knee’s whacked

When it’s looks like war

I simply remember my favorite Kings

Will capture the Cup once more!

PLAYOFFS!

I am most of the way done with a second hockey story. It's about an injured player and his fight to get back into shape after nine long months of recovery. Like the last one, this has been a joy to write. I hope the trend continues. I have eleven ideas for future books.

The NHL Playoffs have begun and the Kings have a good chance of winning the Stanley Cup again. Sure, they lost their first game against he St. Louis Blues, but it's just one game. I have faith they can win four games. Their coach said that a few of the players hadn't ever played in the Playoffs before, and it's a completely different experience than playing during the regular season. The pressure, the crowds, the intensity, the physicality, the emotions--everything is magnified to insane levels. If I were a player in the Playoffs, I'd have lost all my hair by now, have a mouth full of canker sores, and serious gum disease. That's how my body deals with stress.

And get this! They were playing a commercial for some medical center and the doctor talks all about ACL injuries and how they perform a tendon graft to repair it. And that's exactly what the hero in my second book goes through! It's a sign, I tell you, a sign!

Pictured are (left to right) Mike Richards, Drew Doughty, and one of my very favorite players, Dustin Penner. This picture was taken during the parade following their win of the Stanley Cup. Good times!

Note to PrimeTicket: You guys suck. The cut to the basketball. The f-ing split screen??? Are you kidding me? Basketball: First quarter. Nothing happening. Hockey: SUDDEN DEATH OVERTIME. Epic fail.

Photo by JulieandSteve (cc)