BLOG: What's in a name? - other than a string of sleepless nights

Writing a book is a test of will-power, talent, patience (both yours and those within range), relationships and - sometimes - health. Then, if you jump all those hurdles, you must conjure a title, and the 'fun' begins again.

A book's title must be catchy, creative and commercially viable - a heady cocktail to mix. I had written a love story set in Puglia - the 'heel' of Italy's boot - so when I stirred one night with the title HEAD OVER HEEL pulsing through my veins, I sleepwalked to the study to write it down, waking my wife - yet again - in the process.

The publisher was happy with HEAD OVER HEEL but, unsympathetic towards my insomnia, asked me to brainstorm others. I put a dictaphone under my pillow, in my bag, my pocket, my pyjamas, recording whatever came to mind, whenever it came to mind.

In the free-thinking months that followed, HEAD OVER HEEL had many aliases, some close to the mark, some cringe worthy, some crap. My exhausted wife listened as I whispered in the wee hours:

The Heel Italy

One-Way Ticket to Italy

Love and Hate on the Heel of the Boot

The Reluctant Italian

The Piazza by the Sea

Southern Italian Soap Opera

From Italy with Love

To Italy with Love

(By that stage I didn't know if I was coming or going!)

The Bitter-Sweet Life

The New Italian

Italian Lessons

Southern Italian Lessons

Mediterranean Dish: A Recipe for Romance

How to Murder Your Mother-In-Law

And so on …

The publisher's sales manager came to London and kindly took me out for a drink in Covent Garden. 'Author Care', she called it. But what to call the book?

Scanning the names on the wine list, I stumbled (or was that afterwards?) across a Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand, called - amazingly - Head Over Heels; an omen if ever I'd seen one, or drunk one.

HEAD OVER HEEL was released in March 2008, since when my wife and I have been sleeping soundly.