Book titles

I’ve been a bit quiet, I know. A particular lockdown and the resulting COVID restrictions have been a bit more consuming lately and so has finishing up at work before leave.

On the other hand, The Holiday Romance has just been proofread and the printed proof has been ordered! Soon, it will be ‘all systems go’ and it will be available on the online shelves in print and digital formats.

Not unlike Words for Anna, that underwent a title change at the eleventh hour, I agonised over the title for The Holiday Romance as well, al be it briefly. This was mainly due to how Australians and the British refer to taking time off, i.e. a holiday as opposed to the vacation equivalent in North America. But in the end, I stuck with the original title and emphasised American holidays to give the title a double meaning instead.

It led me to ponder terms in general and how languages, with the same origin have evolved over time, and how different we tend to sound because of it, as a result of being separated. Take French-speaking people in France, Switzerland, Belgium and the Congo, for instance. A language with the same origin, that has evolved differently into distinct dialects, that are not always recognisable. The same can be said of Dutch in Holland, Flemish in Belgium and Afrikaans in South Africa.

Back to The Holiday Romance which is nearly published (did I mention that?) – I just figured the Aussie title matches the Aussie prose.

Fair dinkum? (You know, I don’t think I’ve ever actually heard anyone under the age of 50 say that)