Q: What do those four words have in common?
A: They’re all names of chapters in The Reluctant Saint.

For the Jake and Berf books, I toyed with the idea of providing little clues to the chapters, like in Winnie-the-Pooh:

CHAPTER VI
In Which
Eeyore Has a Birthday
and Gets Two Presents

Or like in Alice in Wonderland:

III. A CAUCUS-RACE AND A LONG TALE
IV. THE RABBIT SENDS IN A LITTLE BILL
V. ADVICE FROM A CATERPILLAR

But in the end, I abandoned the idea. However, as I wrote The Reluctant Saint, I named the chapters to make things easier to find in Scrivener.

I didn’t intend to use them in the final product, but they grew on me. Ultimately, I decided to use chapter titles, but not the ones I had created during the first draft.

Instead, I chose a single word for each chapter (except for one). It wasn’t as easy as you might think. I enlisted the aid of The Number One Son, The Woman, and the folks from Novel in Progress who made it to Austin Java after our meeting.

I give you the list below. The words were chosen carefully, honing in on words that offered multiple relevant meanings as often as possible. Read this list and you’ll know everything about the novel before it comes out. 😉

Day 1: Thursday
Chapter One: Quandary
Chapter Two: Epiphany
Day 2: Friday
Chapter Three: Oasis
Chapter Four: Mirage
Chapter Five: Apprehension
Chapter Six: Wingnuts
Day 3: Saturday
Chapter Seven: Speculation
Chapter Eight: Stymie
Chapter Nine: Rout
Day 4: Sunday
Chapter Ten: Karma
Chapter Eleven: Legacy
Day 5: Monday
Chapter Twelve: Pursuit
Chapter Thirteen: Gauntlet
Chapter Fourteen: Bivouac
Chapter Fifteen: Compound
Chapter Sixteen: Tête-À-Tête
Chapter Seventeen: Succor
Chapter Eighteen: Fisticuffs
Day 6: Tuesday
Chapter Nineteen: Feint
Chapter Twenty: Claymore
Chapter Twenty-One: Bombshell
Chapter Twenty-Two: Crux
Day 7: Wednesday
Chapter Twenty-Three: Hiatus
Chapter Twenty-Four: Launch
Chapter Twenty-Five: Standoff
Chapter Twenty-Six: Sally
Day 8: Thursday
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Portland
Day 9: Friday
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Dragon
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Tattoo
Chapter Thirty: Nadir
Day 10: Saturday
Chapter Thirty-One: Materiel
Chapter Thirty-Two: Cabin Fever
Chapter Thirty-Three: Gambit
Chapter Thirty-Four: Quietus
Day 11: Sunday
Chapter Thirty-Five: Admission
Day 12: Monday
Chapter Thirty-Seven: Discharge
Chapter Thirty-Eight: Haystack