Wednesday 21 October 2009

Diet? Does Jenny Craig know about this???

Cloudy, drizzle, but mild, temps 14

We're in Toronto...off to an event in nearby Orangeville tonight. It's at the Millcroft Inn and is organized by Nancy Frater, the owner of Booklore Stores - a truly great Canadian independent bookstore - and the local Alzheimers Association. A fundraiser.

Love doing fundraisers.

Limo will pick us up at the hotel and take us there...dinner with Nancy first, then to the event where I will talk, read, answer questions, sign books, and drive back to Toronto...in by midnight. Tomorrow there's the launch at Sleuth of Baker Street...always a hoot.

Still wrestling with the company name...great suggestions from readers, though. Thank you!!

Village Green Inc.
Steak Frites Inc.
Lord Love a Duck Inc
Pine, Pine and Pine, Inc
Oink ink
Pennywise Inc
A Wee Plan Inc
Spiderweb Inc

And lots more. Someone suggested that Quel Cochon - my original idea - might also translate as 'What a pervert" not just 'Porn Productions'...she said if I went with that as a company name she'd design the logo for free. Almost worth it...if only to see the lawyer, Richard's face.

Adding, perhaps, to his impression I'm up to no good must be a typo in an earlier blog from last week, where I describe meeting a friend - Tony Bidalka - for a drink in the Bouchercon bar in Indianapolis. I wanted - according to my blog - a diet cock.

Now, some kind soul did email and say I might want to edit that...but she was too much of a lady to say what I had written and I thought, really how bad could it be?

That bad. Finally, last night, my brother Doug wrote and, like brothers, was quite explicit and delighted.

Here we are, at the world HQ of Porn Productions, ordering Diet Cocks. THIS is how you get onto the New York times bestseller list! I now wonder if the suggestion of A Wee Plan Inc was a euphemism.

Another company name I love that someone sent (Marjorie) was an anagram of Armand Gamache... A Managed Charm, Inc.

Do you have other ideas? Any preferences? Honestly, this is just for bookkeeping and will never be in neon lights. But it is nice to choose one that has meaning. I actually am leaning toward Oink Ink. Can't imagine that isn't taken, though.

Oh, by the way - the pronunciation guide is finally up on the website...will try to write more about that tomorrow, and highlight it. But thought you might like to know.

Be well. And thanks for all these fun suggestions...WAY more creative than I am!

10 comments:

Marjorie said...

I just want everyone to know that it was not me who let Louise know about her wonderful soft drink typo. It was too damn funny to risk her editing it away!

--Marjorie from Connecticut

Shelagh said...

I agree with you, Marjorie. Figured it would be a great accompaniment to Louise's blueberry and pea crisp!
Shelagh from Michigan

Margaret J. McMaster said...

This is so much more fun than cleaning the fridge! I'd like to contribute:

Word in a Web Inc.

donna said...

Hi Louise - Just listened to the first part of the guide of the main characters - love it! It is just like having you right in the same room. I also discovered I have been quite "murdering" their names. Thanks to Lise as I am sure this must have been a lot of work to assemble. Great idea.
Regards,
Donna

bgpringle said...

Louise,
I love Oink Ink. and Pennywise. Some of the readers have fabulous imaginations!!
Bev

humble_pie said...

i think the lawyer's views have merit. Porn riffs sound fun now, when one is running with limos & awards & cool clubby luxe hotels, but some of the corporate names may not amuse when they roll across the big movie credit screens in a few years. Which is what el abogado is worrying about.

this vaguely crosses my mind but i'm not sure i like it.

P3P Mont Echo.

Productions 3 Pins Mont Echo.
ok Productions 3 Pines Mont Echo.
but P3P in both languages, no translation.

Marjorie said...

Donna, Thanks so much for letting me know that the "How to Say French Things in French" recordings by Louise are up! Oh, boy, was I way off on just about EVERYTHING! (Special thanks to Louise's Lise!)

--Marjorie from Connecticut

Bev Stephans said...

Dear Louise,

Since I was the one who emailed you about diet cocks, I will out myself.

I laughed like mad when I saw it, but didn't know how you would feel about it. After reading "Quel Cochon", I have a good idea.

If you're looking for a corporate name (I think it's limited in Canada), why not "Diet Cocks For All".
There are so many good ones that have been submitted, that I can't come up with anything else.

Your stops in Toronto sound great. Sell lots of books!

Bev

Nikki B said...

There must have been something in the air at B'con(or possible in the diet cock?)....a bunch of us were hanging out and someone had just returned from the Reachers Creatures party at the Slippery Noodle---and then started to tell us how it got its' name. I never did find out because we totally lost it when his history lesson jumped to the fact that the 'Slippery Noodle' used to be a bordello!! :-o LOL

Elaine said...

Hi Louise,

That pronunication guide is great.

I'd like to propose a suggestion to you. It would be wonderful if each book had a list of the french phrases you use that book and the english translation. That way when someone is reading your book they can go look up the phrase and immediately know what it means. I've seen authors do this when they use an uncommon dialect in a book.

And, if you wanted to take it one step further you could also include a phonetic spelling of the phrase so us folks who don't know the french language will know how to pronounce it. This would also work well for your character names.