A very successful 'Catch'

 

“Every writer I know has trouble writing.” –  Joseph Heller

 

Born in New York City on May Day, 1923 Heller was an unknown writer when he pitched his idea for Catch-22 to Simon & Schuster and editor Joseph Gottlieb decided to take a chance.  The rest, of course, is history.  The novel, published in 1961, became one of the all-time best sellers and a successful movie, its title embedded in our language.

Originally, he intended for his book's title to be Catch-18, and the first chapter was actually published as a short magazine article with that name.  But famed author Leon Uris had a new book called Milas 18, so to avoid confusion Heller changed his to Catch-22.   Ultimately, the book catapulted Heller into a highly successful career writing books, plays and movie scripts.

Besides his famous book title, Heller (who died in 1999) coined a couple of other phrases that have become part of the world’s lexicon.  “Some people are born mediocre, some people achieve mediocrity, and some people have mediocrity thrust upon them,” he said.  And “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you.”