Why Fragments?

     So many people have a novel that they are "working on."  Because of this,  I hesitate to admit that I have one too.  Whenever I say it, I feel like the cliche writer wannabe.  But it's the truth.  I have a novel that I am working on--and have been working on for longer than I will say.  What I will say is that I am on the fifth draft.  I had hoped that this would be the final draft, but it won't.  I already know that.  Getting close though.  Almost publishable.  A successful mystery writer (I won't say who because I haven't seen her for a while and don't have permission to use her name) told me that both the story and my writing of it are at the publishing level in terms of quality.  That was encouraging.  But it is hard to write a novel and live a full time life at the same time.  So that final push to the top has been a slow-go.  The reason I bring up the novel is because I promised yesterday to explain the title of this blog.  It is derived from the novel's title: Fragments.  The novel won't be the main subject of the blog, though.  Instead, I plan to talk about other writing projects, such as the short story I've just finished, the creative journey of writing, the difficulties and joys of trying to get published, and life in general.  Thus I've titled the blog "Fragments and Friends," the friends being anything and everything other than the novel.  After I got my domain name I discovered that Fragments really is not a good name for a book.  Apparently writers, especially poets, like this word.  There are a number of websites and books with the word fragments in the title.  Curious.  I'm not sure what's so attractive about the word, but the abundance of fragment titles has left me with the concern that my little blog and my cherished novel will get lost among all the other fragments. Still, I have hope. I hope the word fragments is as attractive to publishers and readers as it is to writers because I'm not changing the name of the novel.  This is not simple obstinacy.  The word fragments is integral to the plot of my novel.  Why? I'll save that for a future blog.

     Thanks for reading.  Blessings on your day.  C.F.