FUNCTIONING AUTHOR MARVELS: the perils and pleasures of word choice

It's not every day registering a domain name makes you laugh so forcefully you nearly snort Perrier out your nose, but I had that pleasure recently when I went to buy the domains associated with this blog.

I had figured that "workingwriterwonders" was weird enough that it wouldn't be taken, and I was right. Nevertheless, the computer at the site wanted me to have every possible option, so it made some suggestions of its own.

EffortWriterAmazes. BestWriterOnline. (If only.) JudyWriterOnline. DriverWritingOnline. My own personal favorite, FunctioningAuthorAmazes. (I couldn't use that one even if I wanted to; I'm often working, but to claim that I'm actually functioning is a stretch.) WorkingAtHome Forever: a premium name, the site said, that would cost me a cool $477 for a year.

Then there were the shorter suggestions: FunctioningWriter, WondersAuthor, WorkingAnimals, WorkingAway, EffortAuthor, WorkingHen (another $477 choice, though I discovered I could get WorkingChicken for only twelve bucks), and FunctioningAmazes. Well, indeed it does.

Samuel Clemens famously noted that "the difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug." I like to think he'd be amused at this illustration of his precept, even if it's just a computer with a bug providing it.

As for me, I'm going to save up my pennies until I have twelve bucks...not easy for those of us who are WorkingAtHomeForever. Because I can totally see myself writing a Working Chicken blog.