Friday, August 24, 2012

Flotsam, Jetsam and Lagan


Flotsam, Jetsam and Lagan

Remember that shipwreck of an idea?  You know, the one that never became watertight as a story. It had something of value. Maybe you liked how the cut of the jib looked against the setting sun. Maybe you sent it off with a prayer to Saint Jude, the Patron Saint of “lost causes” and “cases despaired of.” You didn’t expect it to reach the safe harbor of publication. It didn’t.

Or maybe, like my idea, it sat unfinished in dry dock, weathering and looking derelict until I got tired of even looking at the mess. So I finished the keel, stripped, sanded and painted the bottom and the topside, slapped on hardware, boot tape and rigging and launched her just to see if she’d float


One of my ideas, salvaged, jury-rigged and sailing close to the wind just reached the harbor of publication. As Winston Churchill once said, Never give in — never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.”


Note: I am at Killer Nashville this weekend so I may not reply quickly to you posts but I promise to read them.

4 comments:

  1. I still have hope of getting my last manuscript published, Warren. Everyone who read it liked it, thought it was funny and said it was the type of book that they liked to read. Some agents made requests to read, but they passed. Maybe this time, if I ever get back to revising my current manuscript. I've got rejection paranoia, which I have to overcome.

    Have a great time at Killer Nashville!

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  2. EB, I know it is tough. Hang in there. LIke interviewing for a job or selling a house you only need one real offer.p

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  3. Warren, I hope you're enjoying Killer Nashville. And congratulations on another publication!

    I had thought from the title of your post that you were going to be writing about the great Bollywood movie that was Oscar-nominated, Lagaan. 4 1/2 hours of a critical cricket game--with singing and dancing! (Sounds awful, I know, but it's actually a great movie.)

    I have recently dusted off a novel I wrote years ago. A publisher was going to take it, but before we had a contract the editor left acrimoniously, and the manuscript landed back on my desk. Now, my agent thinks we could sell it. Not a mystery but a fantasy instead, so it will probably go under a pseudonym. Don't want to confuse my readers. It seems miraculous that it may get a new life after all this time. In those words of which you so aptly remind us, "Never give up."

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  4. Love your analogy, Warren. I had an idea that resided in my mind for years and years. Finally, I put it into a short story and it won first place in a contest.

    Enjoy Killer Nashville, Warren. One of these years I want to go to that conference. I've always heard it's a good one.

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