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.
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.
ReplyDeleteHave a great time at Killer Nashville!
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
ReplyDeleteWarren, I hope you're enjoying Killer Nashville. And congratulations on another publication!
ReplyDeleteI 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."
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.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy Killer Nashville, Warren. One of these years I want to go to that conference. I've always heard it's a good one.