It’s about a teddy bear who has willed himself to live only to be arrested for being the most heinous terrorist mastermind.   Yes, really.  As the official website says:

Emotionally gripping and intellectually compelling, Winkie introduces the most memorable protagonist since the Velveteen Rabbit, and—with the help of a lesbian Moslem cleaning woman, a stuttering attorney, and a Lacan-spewing bear cub—brilliantly exposes the cruel absurdities of our age and explores what it means to be human in an increasingly barbaric world.

It’s a strange book.  I loved it.  Mostly I wondered what sort of creative bravery it took to write it and to believe that it had a chance in hell of getting published.  If I had an idea like this I would never, ever believe it would see the light of day at a publishing house.

I would love to have seen the face of the agents/editors who first saw this thing.  How many times (if any?) was it rejected?  Who had the guts to buy it and what made the risk worth taking?  Kudos to those visionaries.

This, of course, reveals a great deal about my own writing life–particularly the stuff I don’t write.  I’ve often thought that’s a problem.  Now that I see it written out like this, I feel that more strongly than ever.  I need to write my winkies too!  Even if I don’t think there’s a chance they’ll ever get published.  I should let the world decide that, not me.

Hm.  Quite a little pep talk for myself.  What do you think?  Do you guys give yourselves pep talks?  Do you writers out there write your winkies?

I rather like that phrase, that call to arms:  WRITE YOUR WINKIES!

I wonder if Chase would mind?