As you might already know from my last blog, I wrote the Adventures of Kitt the Kid years ago. There was no title for the book or a name for the main character. It was written in the first person – I, I, I. So when I finally decided to get the book published I knew that the main character needed a name and the book needed a title. Couldn’t get more obvious!

The main character was a compilation of several of us kids from the neighborhood. The boy who lived in the house where we spent most of our play time was named John, or “Johnny,” as our parents liked to refer to him. Other kids included Dottie, Teddy, Cyndi, Jeffrey, Janie, Sheree, and Janet to name a few. But I didn’t want to name the main character after any of us. After all, he wasn’t specifically any one of us.

Can I tell you how I chose the name “Kitt”? I don’t know how, other than to say the name just came to me one day. There is no exciting story behind it. Why did I add “the Kid” to his name? For that I can thank my Mother. You see, when she speaks about any young child, after saying his name once or twice she will skip the name and simply say, “the kid.” It’s really a term of endearment, and since I carried this book around with me in my mind and heart for many years, the name fit!