📖 First Readers: What should I call this book?

Plus, I'm looking for people to interview about their experience with illness

So many books. So little time. What kind of titles intrigue you?

Hello, dear friends! This is my every-other-Saturday First Readers update on the book I’m writing (which I first wrote about here).

This book will be about the human experience of illness. Whether you have cancer or IBD or heart disease, the specifics of treatment and symptoms are very different. But the internal and invisible experience can be eerily similar: big emotions, grappling with uncertainty, the fear, the worries, the relief, the pain, the ways we change, how our identity is affected. All the parts that the medical system skips.

Note: If you aren’t interested in getting the book updates, here’s how to turn off First Readers emails but keep all the other Odyssey of the Body emails.

Today, let’s talk about the title and interviews.

What should the title be?

People do judge a book by the cover and by the title. So I’ve been playing around with the title for a while (though ultimately any publisher will get final say and may have a completely new and brilliant idea).

Today I want to know what you think.

Option 1: The Parallel Journey

This is where I started.

What is this Parallel Journey? I’m imagining two paths. Path 1: what medical system pays attention to (the symptom, the test results, the diagnosis, the treatment, the outcome), happening in parallel with Path 2: the human experiene (emotions, thoughts), which are in many ways just as powerful. For example, say you have a CT scan and there’s a gap of a few days before the results pop in your electronic health record, and perhaps another few days before you can talk to a doctor about what they mean — there’s often an intense human experience going right along with it. Worry, fear, relief — so many thoughts and feelings!

All happening in parallel. It’s just a test. It’s so much more than a test.

Pros: It’s short and maybe intriguing. It brings a new concept into the conversation around illness.

Cons: It’s not an immediately obvious what it is about. And, as I’ve heard several people coach, a nonfiction book like this should tell you where you are going. What will you get by reading this? But maybe the subtitle can do that.

Option 2: The Secret Guide to Illness: Navigating the Journey You Never Wanted to Go On

Pros: Adding a subtitle to make it clearer. Plus, “Secret” is enticing, right? “Guide” tells you it will be helpful.

Cons: Some people have pointed out: Is the guide really secret? It’s, umm, right here, in my hands! (Well, hopefully, one day!) I had meant that this book will feature things we often don’t talk about or don’t know, but perhaps “secret” doesn’t work.

I asked Courtney Baum, an author and writing coach who wrote the terrific book Before and After the Book Deal, about the working title via a comment in her newsletter, and she liked the subtitle a lot. (If you are interested in writing books, I highly recommend her newsletter!)

So what if I flipped the title and subtitle?

Option 3: Navigating the Journey You Never Wanted to Go On: The Hidden Guide to Illness

Navigating the Journey You Never Wanted to Go On: The Invisible Guide to Illness

One friend texted me: “The title needs work 😬” Why? They found the idea of “navigating” not appealing. Good to know!

Another friend told me: Invisible isn’t exactly it. I think you mean something more personal, like “intimate.” Also, they shared that a publishing executive they know advised flipping the title-subtitle.

Yes, “intimate!” And ok!

Option 4: The Intimate Experience of Illness

Or maybe it’s more inclusive: Our Intimate Experience of Illness

But does that imply we all have the same experience? (Clearly we don’t.)

Your Intimate Experience of Illness

(Hmm. That might sound too know-it-all, like I know your exact experience, which I don’t.)

??????

What do you think?

Vote for your favorite title in the poll below. (Note: “Navigating the Journey You Never Wanted to Go On” is too long to fit in full. And whatever the title is, it will need a subtitle that complements it.) More suggestions for titles are very welcome!

Who should I interview?

I have my own experience of illness, but this book will not be a memoir. I would like to talk to lots of people about their personal experiences, people with a wide range of ages and backgrounds, locations and types of illnesses, races/ethniticies and genders, religions and beliefs.

Here’s where you could help. Do you know someone who might be interested in talking with me about their experience of illness? How it felt when they got their diagnosis? How their illness has changed them? How they’ve adjusted? What has helped? I’d love to talk with them.

It can be an anonymous interview, in that I could include their quotes or thoughts in the book but not their name, or they could use their first name or their full name — anything on the spectrum, whatever they prefer.

I would talk to them over Zoom (or in person, if they are nearby) and record the conversation.

To connect, email me at brianne@odysseyofthebody.com or reply to this email.

Thanks in advance!

And if you are working on a big goal (or a small one!) too, let us know in the comments. I’d love to cheer you on. Thanks for being part of the Odyssey of the Body community. I hope you have a beautiful weekend ahead.

To our journeys,
Brianne

p.s. If these First Readers book updates aren’t your jam, you can control which Odyssey of the Body emails you get (general essays/Q&As, First Readers, Field Notes). Here’s how to turn off First Readers.

p.s.a. If these First Readers book updates are totally your jam, and you are wondering how you can support this even more, I turned on the paid subscriptions option ($6/month) recently as a sign of support. I’m thinking of adding a quarterly book club for paid subscribers if there’s interest, too.