We Own The Jetty
Tenacity Tale: The Little Story that Could
Today, Pangyrus Magazine published “We Own the Jetty” a short story I wrote in graduate school in 2005. But while I’m celebrating the fact that this story has found such a great home1 I’m much more interested in the middle of this publication story.
The eighteen years between first draft and publication.
Because if this story were a child, I’d be shipping her to college.
So long that the inspiration for the story—the seemingly permanent rock jetties and the graffiti they inspired that said “WE OWN THE JETTY”—have been razed to make way for a more ecologically sound shore configuration.2
I’m proud that during all those years and all those near misses—personal rejections and a turn as a top-25 finalist for Glimmer Train’s Short Story Award for New Writers—I didn’t give up.
I kept circling back to the story.
Kept revising to better fit with the writer and person I’d grown into since the story was first written almost two decades ago.
It’s a catch-22 that the reason those eighteen years are compelling is because the story is finally being published today, but as grateful as I am to Pangyrus for accepting the story, the tenacity tale lies in those eighteen years.
Because while it’s true some stories get locked into the proverbial desk drawer because they’re underworked, they’re overworked or they just plain don’t work—lord knows plenty of my my stories emerged as a monster I could no more mistake for a story than Frankenstein could mistake his handiwork for a man—there is that small handful3 I dust off every once in a while and think, once more unto the breach.
How about you?
Are you sitting on a short story or a novel or poem that you’d like to share but hasn’t yet found its home?
Can you dust it off this weekend and revise it with fresh eyes?
Can you make a list of publications or contests where it might be a good fit?
Tenacity Tales is HIBOU’s monthly celebration of all the tiny tenacities in a writerly life. If you have a tenacity tale you’d like to share, comment below or send me your pitch at hibou@substack.com. To learn more about what we’re looking for, read the original Tenacity Tale here.
Please note and admire my herculean restraint as I pass on the opportunity to compare this story’s publication to the to the adoption of a stray puppy.
Insert clever metaphor for revision here.
At least two novels and three or four stories.
I love this story. I love your tenacity. It's inspiring. At a time I need to muster my own. And this time, not in a writing way.
It took me weeks to get my adult children and husband to agree to go on a family vacation, to Amsterdam and Paris, in the narrow window of time we had to make this work given everyone's work, travel, and grad school schedules.
We carved out 11 days. I spend dozens of hours researching accommodations, activities, transfers, flights, and train rides. Thousands of dollars, but hey, who knows when we might get to vacation as our foursome again. To save some money, I booked flights to Amsterdam and from Paris on Icelandair, with one-stop in Reykjavik.
We were supposed to fly out Wednesday night. Our 8:50 flight to Reykjavik was delayed 15 minutes, then an hour, then canceled due to a faulty part related to the fuel line that made the plane fail a fuel test. To our disbelief, we rode home from the airport 5 hours after arriving.
Our flight was rescheduled for Thursday - yesterday - at 7:50pm. It was then delayed until 9pm. My son says he already knew the outcome. The new part they got for the same plane was not functioning. The plane failed the fuel test again. Twice. Our flight was cancelled again. Again we were in a Lyft ride home after 5+ hours at the airport.
This is high travel season. Flights are booked to the hilt. Icelandair scheduled us for a Delta flight direct to Amsterdam on Saturday evening, arriving Sunday. Our 5 nights in Amsterdam will turn to 2. I've rescheduled transfers and lost funds on everything we had booked.
I'm reaching for the tenacity to wipe the slate clean to fully enjoy our very short time in Amsterdam and our time in Paris. Fun memories await creation. We are lucky to have this opportunity. We are grateful for our health, our safety, and the privilege we have to do this, and to not be ruined by it.
I'm not asking for sympathy. Just empathizing with your fabulous tale of tenacity, Cathy, and working my resilience. Maybe a short story of my own will emerge from this. Or at least a marketing newsletter featuring Icelandair!