writing tool of dubious merit

I was thinking about renaming one of the minor characters in Silence and Roses and was going through the various baby-name sites I'd bookmarked last year. One of them now has a Baby Names Inventor feature, which describes itself thus: Still searching for the perfect baby name? Tired of browsing endless alphabetical baby name lists? Our baby name generator is just the answer to any creative block! Click one of the three buttons below to automatically generate a great selection of names for babies. (As you'd expect, the links are "Boy", "Girl", and "Boy or Girl")

Of course I clicked it, and it suggested I name my precious fictional bundle of joy: Gslducad

If that didn't quite do it, it also suggested the following alternatives (among many): Fost, Rrblamen, Cthufeth, Oroblon, Frd, and Mbu. Coincidentally, in the very first, sucked-so-bad-it-made-sound-like-a-whale-farting-into-a-pringles-can draft of my first novel, I had an alien named Mbu. I wasn't embarrassed by that until just this very moment.

So, if you need alien names that are virtually unpronounceable[1], there you go, there's a tool for you. Meanwhile it's late and I intend to go to bed, and on my way stop briefly in the baby room to tuck in my babes, who might've been Cthufeth and little Frd if only this site had had this feature sooner.

--
[1]because readers *love* those, even if they won't admit it!

calling it good

I can't make it shorter without breaking it, I can't make it longer without diluting it. So I have decided to accept that, awkward length or not, Silence and Roses is the length it needs to be and is the best story I can make it.

Tomorrow, if I can get my ass out of bed and shovel the kids into the car in a timely fashion, I am determined to escort it to the post office and send it out on its first trip into the wide world.

Wow. It's almost like I'm writing again.