Mara's Musings

Find and Replace ...

I have been working on a Novel on and off for the past three years. More off then on it seems as I realized I had just 15k at the beginning of 2011 and here I am at 81k and nearing the end. LOL The funny thing is that I've known all along that the main male character's name was wrong. I know, right? How can that be? I don't know, but it was. The crazy thing is I have also wrote several short stories, a back and forth with another writer that ended up around 200k, and started two OTHER longer pieces that probably total another 100k ... ALL with these characters.

Over the three years I've considered a lot of names, but never found one that was just right. As I've gotten closer to finishing the novel I've started obsessing over the NAME. I looked at webpages of baby names and made lists and still I couldn't find that name that clicked for me and this character. FINALLY ... I went to bed Tuesday night with a name in mind that I was fairly happy with and plans to make the change on Wednesday, my day off and big writing day. Wouldn't you know it ... I was almost asleep and THE NAME popped into my head!!! *Does the Snoopy dance*

I was so excited that I woke my poor husband up to tell him. As he has to get up at 4:00 am ... his excitement was a bit restrained, but he tried. LOL I tried to lay back down and go to sleep, but that was a no go. Then came ... What if I didn't remember the name in the morning? Surely I would. But what if I didn't. Maybe send myself an email by text message. What if that doesn't go through for some reason? Okay ... maybe I will just get up, go to my desk and write the name on a sticky. Uhhh huhhh

I ended up firing up the lap top and doing a Find and Replace to finally give my main character the name he deserves. For those that know him ... Clay is now Zeke. There you have it. I hope that those of you who have come to love Ginny and her husband will understand and love Zeke as I do.