A REQUEST FOR YOUR JUDGMENTS - FINDING THE JUST RIGHT TITLE

I think the first revision is the most compelling of the three options you listed.

My vote goes for #3.
my reason.. isn't smack another slang for heroin???

I like "Smack in the Middle"! Of the two remaining choices I would choose the second. I would leave out "My Odysey" though. "Treating Heroin Addicts in the Sixies-A Memoir" is sufficient. Having both is rather redundant. Also, it has more of a grab without it.

Also, I know I am an obnoxious grammar snob so I apologize in advance, but "a lot" is two words.

have you been told you need to redo the title? I think your first title is by far the best. i think the sub title should be shorter: Treating Addicts in the Sixties

SMACK IN THE MIDDLE is perfect. The subtitle, however, is a bit dull. "Odyssey", "the sixties" and "memoir" are all turnoff words for today's reader. Maybe something like "heroin addicts I have known'' or "life among heroin addicts" would be more appealing. What does your agent think?

There is obviously no accounting for taste. So here is my an analysis. The center I worked in is named Odyssey House. The essence of the memoir is my personal and professional life defining experience at Odyssey as a budding psychotherapist.

Smack is slang for heroin. It also is catchy and hints at the psychological violence that I encountered and endured during the 17 months I worked as an assistant director and psychologist at Odyssey House.

Smack in the Middle while catchy doesn't associate to much that is specific.

Inside Rehab implies the story will not be a typical addiction story that, like Frey, describes another hooked, fall into hell, and are eventually redeemed through prayer and or sheer will. Instead the story will relate what really goes on behind the facade of a complex array of overlapping dimensions including psychological, political, philosophical, sociological, and spiritual.

The title has to be compelling enough for the publisher to give us a contract. Once bought the publisher is likely to change it anyway.

SMACK IN THE MIDDLE: Heroin Addicts in the 60s

Short, sweet, succinct.

I've made this a Feature in The Renewed Activist.

Gibbs...my 2 cents...since the experience for you was profoundly negative...how about:

SMACK INSIDE THE FACADE OF REHAB

...or something that shows upfront the negative experience.

Kathleen - Actually the experience at Odyssey was decidely extreme - both traumatically bad and richly good. The good part was that I was given licesnse and encouragement to implement the Odyssey Concept any way I wished. This I did with a skilled social worker who became a good friend. We applied psychoanalytic concepts utilizing the core concept of basic trust as the central focus of treatment. In one years time we had a high success rate of over 50 percent of those who stayed in the program for more than three months. I mean that raw addicts who had been on the mean streets of NYC committing the worst of crimes to maintain their often 200 dollar habits per day were transformed into the beginnings of solid responsible caring citizens of the community. This good work was subverted by the unfortunate pathology of the psychiatrist/lawyer director of Odyssey. When together she was brilliant, revered, and truly helpful but when in the grips of her pathology she was destructive, feared, and truly evil. In my resignation letter to her I said that I will forever be in her debt for teaching me the meaning of trust. Dr. Judi, as I called her, made trust the supreme organizing concept around which her brand of treatment was exercized. Unfortunately there was a wide gap between what she advocated from that which she practiced. So you might say my 17 months there were simultaneously the best of times and the worst of times - like real life.

Mr. Williams, my vote is for the second revision because it is close to your initial title.

And I know you didn't ask for this, but could I throw-out a title?

SMACK'D: My ODYSSEY TREATING HEROIN ADDICTS IN THE SIXTIES - A MEMOIR

Thanks Diego -

My luck is increasing. In today's New York Observer there is a major article on post Frey memoirs on addiction and recovery. In this connection try an new title possibility:
Alternative Titles:



DARK AND LIGHT INSIDE REHAB AND RECOVERY

MY ODYSSEY TREATING HEROIN ADDICTS IN THE SIXTIES

A MEMOIR

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Alternative Title:



LOWS AND HIGHS IN REHAB AND RECOVERY:

MY ODYSSEY TREATING HEROIN ADDICTS IN THE SIXTIES

A MEMOIR

I like the Lows and Highs (the second one).

I still like the first one, Smack in the Middle, although Diego's title is my #2.

I can't remember what I suggested last time we did this, but I still have the same opinion overall. If I was in a book store, I'd pass on all of them. No offense intended here, but they sound like a diary. Even though that is somewhat true, I don't think people are really interested in reading, or should I say paying, for someones diary (unless you happen to be Ann Frank). I think they are too long, and not necessary. Once a person picks up the book, they can figure that all out soon enough. I'd get the "my" and "memoir" out of it entirely.
Not sure if that helped or not.

John S. Your point is well taken. However, my agent advised me to leave it in. My account is also based on diary (journal notes) but it is written in the style of narrative, dramatic, non fiction. I will provide an example (s) if it is OK with my agent.

Technically a memoir is a period of time from the author's experience that was experienced as highly significant for various reasons. My 17 month experience at Odyssey was life defining for me personally and professionally. It also descibes in breadth and depth what constitutes effective and ineffective threatment of a representative population of drug abusers.

smack in the middle is my favorite....

The first one...it's direct, and raises the level of curiosity in the viewer. However, your agent should know better since he/she has to sell! Good luck.