Why the placeholder name?

The Oakmont Project is a terrible name for a novel. Ah, but here’s the catch: it’s not actually the name of my novel . . . let me explain.

After three years of writing what has become a far too large novel (110k+ words, also known as un-publishable), I found a name that I had fallen in love with for the book: Los Malos Dias. Translated from Spanish, this means The Bad Days.

The English translation is a bit of a wet fart, to be blunt. The Bad Days? Well hell, that pretty much sums up, what, 40-45% of life? Los Malos Dias, however, is beautiful. In my own opinion, at least. Unfortunately, it’s also confusing when you consider the fact that I live in the United States. Not only is half of our political population at war with the imaginary boogeyman of the Spanish language rampaging through America, tearing down the McDonald’s and replacing them with El Pechugón, but also most folks react to book covers. Ah, Spanish title? Must be a book written in Spanish.

For a long while I convinced myself this probably wasn’t the case. If I saw a book with a Spanish title, I would investigate further. I also grew up in Del Paso Heights and Gardenland, two districts in Sacramento, CA known for their high population of Spanish-speakers. After three years of avoiding the truth, a few good friends (and a handful of agents I submitted the novel to) finally told me the bitter, ugly, honest truth: Los Malos Dias won’t work.

So, here I am. Lost. Without a name. There are plenty I could think up, but . . . I don’t want to. I like the old name. I like how it sounds. I like the connection it has to some of the characters in the novel. I like how it looks.

For the time being, it’s The Oakmont Project. Somehow an even uglier name than The Bad Days.