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 Seacoast History Blog #16
November 29, 2008
A new book is like a new baby. Author’s have been saying that forever, but many get the metaphor wrong. Books are conceived, most of the time, in the mind of the author. The seminal idea flitters among its myriad brothers and sisters, sometimes for years, desperate to germinate. Some think a book is born when the printed work appears, pressed between stiff covers and dressed in colorful jacket. Far from it. Books are born when the author and the publisher shake hands. (Continued)
The story of America’s Privateer
So break out the cigars. The newest baby has arrived. In 2009 I begin telling the story of the 1812 schooner LYNX, a reconstructed tall ship that we call "America’s Privateer". Fascinated by the little-known story of privateers in the nation’s first two wars, Woodson K. Woods financed the construction of a modern replica that was launched at Maine in 2001. Registered here in Portsmouth, NH, the Privateer Lynx has been traveling ever since. It is currently off the coast of California. The job of the crew – and now my job as well – is to tell the dramatic story, both of the original Lynx and its modern sister.
You won’t see this book until 2011. That’s when this newborn project will grow up, climb into its fancy clothing, and head out into the wide world. It’s a time too far ahead for me to imagine.
For now I am focused entirely on raising this cute little baby. Having parented half a dozen books before, I’m finally comfortable with the process. First, I clear a space in the office for the new kid. Everything related to shipbuilding and the War of 1812 goes in one corner of the room. A chunk of the harddrive gets carved out for notes, emails, interview transcripts, web links, and rough drafts.
Fairly soon I will know what the chapters are. Each chapter gets its own three-ring binder and the binders all rest together in order. I’ve found it best to build the bibliography and acknowledgements as I go along. That way nothing gets left out in the final panicky days as the grown-up book gets ready to leave home.
 UPDATE 2012: LYNX BOOK PUBLISHED. GET YOUR SIGNED COPY NOW!
For the first few months, all I do is read. Right now, everything I know fits into a few paragraphs. I know, from checking with Chapelle, that the original LYNX was a fine "letter of marque" built at Baltimore in 1812. I know her dimensions and her original owners. I know she was captured in the Rappahannock River by the British on April 13,1813 and renamed MOSQUIDOBIT for a town In Nova Scotia. I know from another source that she carried 35 men armed with six 12-pounders.
Slowly, methodically, the story will grow. Its dramatic lines will appear. Its characters will emerge. Its themes will grow clearer. But I have learned not to rush the earliest weeks. There are no answers yet. In fact, I’m not even sure what all the questions are. But I know from experience that the questions will come.
These little books, they grow up so fast, and they leave so quickly. The real trick, for the seasoned parent, is to revel in the mystery of now, when all things are possible and, for one fleeting perfect moment, the baby is home safe, wide-eyed and ready to suck in the universe.
© Copyright 2008 by J. Dennis Robinson, All rights reserved.
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