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AGAINST ALL ODDS — JAMES MICHENER
“Behold the turtle: he makes progress only when he sticks his neck out.” (James Bryant Conant) These lively words have special meaning for me. In 1944, I was stuck on a remote island in the South Pacific. To kill time I decided to write a book. Then I remembered the cold facts: the chances against anyone’s publishing a first book are 95 to 1; for each book that is finally published, 95 unsuccessful ones are written. But I decided to stick my neck out and go ahead. Then I learned two more facts. If someone hasn’t written a book by the time he is thirty-five years old, chances are he never will. And I was nearing forty. Even worse, I was not writing a novel but a book of short stories. A friend warned me, “Nobody publishes books of short stories any more.” Even so, I still decided to stick my neck out. When the book appeared, it…