The Title

While I cover this in "Pray," I don't think it's really much of a spoiler: the title of my book is a quote from my grandfather.  He said it after my grandmother finished saying grace.


The title is insane on many levels.  For one, I never believed it would actually end up as the title of the book.  I told my grandfather, as soon as he said, that I was going to make it the title, but I figured any publishing company who actually wanted to put the book out would make me change it.  I guess I figured it wasn't literary enough.

Hellgate, to their credit, never even mentioned it.  But, you have to figure any publisher willing to take a chance on such a book probably wouldn't be put off by a title, no matter how crazy.

I've gotten a lot of comments about the title, all of them positive.  I've sold copies of the book based on the title alone.  It might actually be my best marketing device.

It's also emblematic of the book itself.  My grandfather was a man of faith, so having "pray" in the title had meaning.  This wasn't a quote from a non-believer who only prayed when he needed help.  This was from someone who valued prayer.  And in his lifetime he was shot at -- a lot.

I had someone tell me they liked the title because, initially, it made them laugh, but then when they really thought it about it, it wasn't so funny anymore.  It is a funny phrase -- my entire family laughed after my grandfather said it.  But then you realize that it's a statement coming from a man who was in a position where he had to pray because he was being shot at -- and he was in that position more than once.  There's almost a surreal element to it.

It's such a genuine reflection of who Papa was that I couldn't be happier it's emblazoned across the cover of the book.  I think he would have gotten a kick out of that.