So I have been ruminating on the title of my future memoir. The one I’ll be writing about this experience with cancer once it has run its course. Or rather, once its course has been run. I come solidly from the camp that appreciates having the title up front. Not that I’m opposed to changing it once the work has been completed, mind you. But I like to start every work with a few solid words that guide its development. The title, to me, sets the tone and theme and gets the ball rolling. Until that ball hits a wall or gets stuck in a corner or something, and then the title can be chucked right out and replaced. But still…

And, of course, there is the commercial component of titles. I mean, does it sound catchy? Does it convey meaning without giving away too much or too little? Will it make you want to lay down your hard-earned $32.95 for the hard cover edition (or even the $2.99 Kindle version)? So I’ve got to bandy about a few titles and see what works. Got it?

And if these don’t work for the memoir, well, maybe they’ll make it as the name of a band. Probably not the wordier ones with subtitles and all that, but the snappy, short one kind of works.

Here is what I’ve got so far. I may update this list down the road. I may not. The end result may be a total surprise picked out by my publisher a few years down the road from now. Or I might forget to renew this domain and–poof!–all is lost to the ether. Let’s hope it isn’t that version. For now, as I said, this is what I’ve got so far, in no particular order:

• Hacking Up a Lung
• Deep Breath: My Journey Through Lung Cancer
• Is That a Tumor In Your Pocket (or Are You Just Happy To See Me)
• How To Make Cancer Your Bitch In 7 Easy Steps

It’s not really a lot to work with at this point, actually. I know I had some other juicy ones floating around, but for some reason they escape me. Of course, I could stick with the name of this blog, Just Bad For You, because it kind of does convey a lot about the whole cancer experience. That whole “Deep Breath” one is too pretentious, anyway. It sounds maudlin and sentimental, but oddly commercial in an Oprah’s Book Club kind of way, which might not be so bad.