Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind by Ellen F. Brown, Jr. John Wiley

bubble burst when the next day’s mail arrived with a lengthy letter from Mitchell to Latham explaining why she had sent a single chapter. It had been the only one fit for submittal, and she was not happy even with it. Although Mitchell had been working doggedly for two months, she felt what she had so far for her opening was “amateurish, clumsy and, worst of all, self conscious.” She had struggled with the beginning for years, and it did not flow any easier now. “I cannot work on anything else but keep coming back to the first chapter, pouncing on it, worrying it and then leaving it,” she said. “Each time I hope that by creeping up on it I will catch it off guard and find it more pliable but I have had no luck, so far.” 23 She wanted Latham to review her effort and offer an honest assessment.
    Mitchell went on to say that she remained troubled by the book’s title. Macmillan seemed content with “Tomorrow Is Another Day,” but she had confirmed her suspicion that another novel had recently been released with that title. Moreover, Marsh, a former advertising man, had blocked out the words and ruled it too long and ungraceful. Mitchell hated to “seem a chopper and a changer” but pressed again for “Gone With the Wind.” She explained to Latham, “Taken completely away from its context, it has movement, it could either refer to times that are gone like the snows of yesteryear, to the things that passed with the wind of the war or to a person who went with the wind rather than standing against it.” 24 What did he think?
    Next, the author expressed concern about the production details. She worried about her haggard appearance in the publicity shots, claiming she might have to be “photographed like T.E. Lawrence in a turban.” 25 She was unhappy with the wording of the blurb and how it depicted her family’s history in Georgia. She offered a litany of amusing but irrelevant details of Mitchell lore, including that her family did not fight in the Spanish-American War “because they thought it a piddling sort of war at best.” And, as if she did not have enough on her plate, she concluded with the news that she was hot on the trail of a new author for Latham to consider publishing. She had not had time to get the particulars yet but promised to send more information when she finished her own work.
    The letter offers interesting insight into Mitchell’s emotional state that fall. She asked for help on the first chapter, but as later would become clear, the problems ran much deeper. The entire manuscript was in far worse condition than she let on, and there was no way it would be ready any time soon. Yet, she rambled on about an assortment of oddball matters and failed to admit she needed more time. What was going through her head? Was she in the throes of writer’s block and unable to comprehend the seriousness of the situation? Was she too proud to admit that she had underestimated the job? Perhaps it was a matter of not wanting to disappoint Latham.
    Regardless of the reason, Mitchell put on such a casual air that Cole saw no need for undue concern. Latham was on a business trip, so she forwarded Mitchell’s letter and the chapter to him on the road. Although he found the opening pages moved a bit slowly, the rest was fine, even admirable. Latham assumed the author just needed a little encouragement to get her moving. He wrote Mitchell, telling her to forget about the first chapter and get on with finishing the manuscript. He confirmed that Scarlett was a good replacement for Pansy and agreed that “Gone With the Wind” was an intriguing title. As for her trouble with the photograph, he did not take her worries too seriously, referring to her descriptions as undeniably humorous. He concluded with a comment that was probably the last thing the overwhelmed Mitchell wanted to hear: “I may tell you in all honesty that