"The Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship?"

You know something. I almost gave up this idea of blogging again, because I couldn't think of a good name for my blog.  I still don't think I have found it yet, but I have decided its not worth failing over, and its not going to make me or break me as a blogger. 

"A good title is the title of a successful (blog)." -Raymond Chandler

As a way of coping with my title block, I have reverted to the default mode of writers when they need distraction: research.  Yet still puzzled about this eponymous dilemma, I decided to see if there were any other writers who have shared my problem.  Like a support group of sorts. In my search I came across an article of some great works of literature and films which have titles their authors did not originally intend.  So these well known paragons of Western art were purportedly conceived, written, and edited without the title they now bear which is as much a part of their reputation, and in some cases moreso.  More people have heard of, know the story, and understand the cultural weight of "War and Peace" than have actually read it.  And why not? Its a blindingly long book.  But the interesting thing is that for its entire creation, it was not "War and Peace" at all.  Its "working title" was "All's Well that Ends Well." (Yeah, like the Shakespeare play!) Beyond that being a cool piece of trivia, it left with me with two ideas and amazingly, a "working title" for my blog.

  1) Thank God for the editing process.
 

  2) If "War and Peace" could originally be called "All's Well That Ends Well," then my blog could be called pretty much anything I chose and it wasn't going to make it more or less worth reading. (link)
 

And yes, my search for something to distract me from how much I was failing as a blogger though I had not yet decided to blog led me to this gem (#10)   That's right, even the original title for possibly the greatest film ever flat out stunk.  And at that moment, after reading that this classic, my favorite movie of all time, was originally called "Everybody Comes to Rick's" I had an epiphany.  That's what my blog should be called.  Why? Because that's what my blog needs right now to get me going.  It needs a title that works.  Incomplete, imperfect, not quite right, but something. 

If you haven't seen it, you should.  Its a great movie and there's lots of reasons why. But a big reason I love it is how it explores the idea of hope. In what "Everybody Comes to Rick's" became, everyone hoped.  The hope for a visa to get to a new place of safety and opportunity.  The hope that a cause would not be crushed by fascism.  The hope that you can really run away from love. Likewise a working title drips with hope, especially if its acknowledged as a working title at the onset. In the case of this blog, maybe somewhere in the future the real title will hit me like a piece of falling sky. Maybe not.  Its not going to keep me from beginning.

Yet every journey, whether its to the new world or a new blog, begins with small steps and requires a little luck.  So if you are with me from the beginning or from somewhere along the way. Welcome.  With a little license taken, (and its the digital age so why not) I'll leave you with this

It's still the same old story
A fight for love and glory
A case of do or die.
The world will always welcome (bloggers)
As time goes by.