By Annette Cole Mastron, Communications Director for
Southern Writers Magazine
This is a Special Saturday Super Blog Reminder…you
could have success like John Steinbeck. You just have to enter.
On March 6, 2014, I wrote the blog post “The Dog Ate My Book,” about the backstory behind Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, which started
as a short story and evolved into his “overnight” success.
All you have to do is make the choice to enter your “baby”
in the Third Annual Southern Writers Magazine Contest. Check the guidelines and enter at this link. http://www.southernwritersmagazine.com/contest.html
By Annette Cole
Mastron, Communications Director for Southern Writers Magazine
John Steinbeck's
birthday was last week. He was born February 27, 1902, in Salinas, California.
His work mirrors his varied lifetime experiences. He was a college dropout and
worked as a manual laborer. His novels, The Grapes of Wrath,Of Mice and Men,
and East of Eden are some of my favorites. However after researching this post,
I've added some of his books to my list of must reads.
Steinbeck's first
draft copy of Of Mice and Men, met with an interesting fate. Ironically, the
original working title for Of Mice and Men was "Something that
Happened." The theme reflected through the story is that "sometimes
things happen that simply show the way life is." Enter Steinbeck's new
puppy, Toby. He ate the original manuscript of Of Mice and Men.
Steinbeck lost two
months of work in one evening. As a dog lover, Steinbeck took it all in stride.
He wrote to his agent, Elizabeth Otis, “My setter pup, left alone one night,
made confetti of about half of my manuscript…. I was pretty mad but the poor
little fellow may have been acting critically. I didn’t want to ruin a good dog
for a [manuscript] I’m not sure is good at all.”
Of Mice and Men was
the first novel that received solid recognition. It was chosen by the
Book-of-the-Month Club. A real coup for any writer. Almost overnight, Steinbeck
rose to a much-sought-after writer. Steinbeck was nationally distributed and
widely acclaimed.
He gained attention
from Broadway and authored the stage version of the book, which earned him a
New York Drama Critics Circle Award. I guess Toby knew what he was doing, when
he ate the first draft. Hollywood came calling, and a movie followed.
Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men was the most frequently banned book in the 1990s.
John tested out his
writing by reading to his dogs. Do you read to anyone? Who knows Toby, the
setter, may not have liked the first reading and may have done Steinbeck a
favor. Look at how it turned out for Steinbeck. Suddenly famous, Steinbeck
wrote in a letter to fellow writer Louis Paul, "I have promoted Toby-dog
to be lieutenant-colonel in charge of literature.”
Tortilla Flat, do you recognize the title? Written in 1935 by one of our
greatest novelists, his fourth novel was an account of friends enjoying life
after the Great War. This sometimes forgotten novel was the
author’s first critical and commercial success. It was made into a movie some
years later with stars such as Spencer
Tracy, Hedy Lamarr and John Garfield. This often forgotten
title was just the beginning for the author. Greater known titles, such as Of
Mice and Men, The Grapes of Wrath,Cannery Row and East of Eden were to follow. John
Steinbeck was getting the critical and commercial acclaim as well as the
recognition of the public with Tortilla Flat.
In our local Barnes and Noble there is a reprint of
a promotional poster for Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men by noting him as
author of Tortilla Flat. I found that interesting. I am looking back at
all his great titles and the poster was looking forward with only the one
successful novel under his belt. Tortilla Flat was his launching pad.
The movie Tortilla Flat had yet to be filmed and wouldn’t be for another
two years so there was not recognition from the movie. The recognition was
strictly from the book itself which was published two years earlier. The Grapes
of Wrath came along in 1939 followed by the film Tortilla Flat in 1942.
Cannery Row was written in 1945 and East of Eden in 1952. All
of which we now recognize as better known titles but again our timeline is seen
from the future.
The promotion of Of
Mice and Men was carried by the success of Tortilla Flat so the
question is, “What is your Tortilla Flat?” What is it you can
use for your launching pad? It is something well known or soon will be well
known? Whatever it is you must use it. Steinbeck
did and then in future years he used The Grapes of Wrath to promote Cannery
Row and again all of the above to promote East of Eden. We must use what we have
whether it is known or not. Move ahead with your success to support you no matter
how large or small you may think it is. Use your Tortilla Flat and who
knows, the next time you may use your Of Mice and Men to promote your very
own
The Grapes of Wrath. Promote yourself!
