When I received my “writer approval email” from Mommies Magazine, I was so excited. I immediately had visions of myself sitting at my computer, typing away as the next Carrie Bradshaw of the suburbs. Once my daydream dissipated, my eyes refocused on the email. The first requested item on the list was a name for my new column. Sex and the City was the initial idea that came to mind, but for obvious reasons that was not going to work.
I clicked on to the Mommies Magazine web page to see what the other authors had named their columns. My first reaction was, “Wow this is going to be harder then I thought”. Some of the names were so clever. I read the bios for the authors. Award-winning, author of three books, writer of a weekly column were just a few of the descriptions. I suddenly felt very overwhelmed. At the same time I was ready for the challenge. I gave myself a pep talk. “If I can diaper, feed and dress twins on a daily basis then I can somehow figure out a name for this column,” I confidently stated.
My first plan of attack was to enlist my friends and family in my quest for the perfect name. Some were willing and even enthusiastic participants, while others begrudgingly rattled off a few ideas. My second line of defensive was to get ideas from other column names. I spent hours on the Internet reviewing blogrolls and scrapbook title ideas. Just when I thought that I was never going to figure out a title, I came across a bumper sticker stating, “At my age naptime is Happy Hour.” While I realized this saying is actually suggesting an older person views their own naptime as a happy hour, I could make it work. I switched the wording around and came up with “Happy Hour Starts at Naptime”.
Before you call Child Services, please know, once my kid’s heads hit their pillows I am not pounding back the bottles. I am merely suggesting that as soon as naptime rolls around, I am really happy! Of course I also like the sound of it since it reminds me of those now long ago days when I actually went to a real Happy Hour. Currently, my happy hour simply consists of a time when I can watch TV shows that don’t involve some character dancing and singing, using a pen instead of a crayon or talking to someone who wasn’t born in the new millennium.
At times I felt as if selecting a name for my column was more difficult then naming my own children. When I underwent that process I had millions of baby name books to consult.
For the rest of you out there struggling with the selection of a column name, I will share with you some other strongly considered titles. Feel free to use them for inspiration or your own column title. Here are the other contenders:
Write Away!
Mom (or mum)’s the Word
Two Times
Baseballs and Ballerinas
Dinosaurs and Dolls
Mother’s Nature
Crawl Space
Wake, Rattle and Write
Blankets, Bottles and Bears
About Cheryl Maguire
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