GET YOUR NAME IN PRINT! 

[Update July 1, 2016:  This contest is now closed.  Thanks to everyone who entered. Winners will be notified via email and announced in the next newsletter.  If you're not a subscriber, be sure to sign up! ]

Help me! This guy needs a name.

Naming a character should be the easiest part. The physical description, their personality traits, dialog ticks … that should be the tough stuff.  But, I fuss over names. And the more books I write, the harder it becomes. 
 
In the beginning, I let real life inspire my characters’ names. The supporting character list from the Joy books reads like the character list in my real life.  Even the title refers to a dear friend. My fictional characters have nothing in common with their real life counterparts. That was never the point. The name is simply a tribute to its owner for putting up with me (which is a feat, let me tell you).
 
The downside of that is I now have villains named after sweet, caring, wonderful people.  I also have a character who, not thinking ahead, I named after my son. Now, I’d love to write a spin-off book for this character, but the name alone is a recipe for writer’s block. Trust me. I've tried. 

Well I’m at it again--knee deep in my current work in progress and spinning my wheels while I pluck names from the ether. I’m currently stuck on the letter “C.” Celeste. Camille. Cal.  Curt.  Like a broken record player, I keep trying to name every character with a name that begins with the letter "C."   
 
Help me avoid an absolute alliteration abomination (see what I did there)!  

​Here’s your chance to get your name in print. Or your enemy’s. Most of you know, how I like to kill off characters. Want somebody dead? Just put in a request.  Characters who currently need names:​

• Male/ Mid-thirties/ethnicity TBD:  He's been the hero's partner for many years with the exception of a brief lapse when the hero made detective before he did. This character stands on high moral ground, and due to one or both of their actions, the hero has now taken a new job with a police department in a wealthy suburb of Chicago. This character has a reoccurring role in the book as the hero’s best friend and a voice of reason.

• Female/Mid to late-fifties/Caucasian:  This character is my heroine’s mother. She’s exceptionally wealthy, but sweet as sugar (even sugar burns sometimes). She remains married to the hero’s father, a controlling man who has an estranged relationship with his daughter. I anticipate writing a few chapters from this character’s point of view, as she has a unique and complicated relationship with and view of her daughter. 

Have a suggestion? Comment below with your proposed names for either or both of the characters. Selected winner(s) will receive a signed paperback when the book is published as well as their names in the acknowledgments.  

​I can't wait to see what you come up with!