I googled where the term “throw in the towel” came from. On Wiki answers it says: “…an image from the sport of boxing, to give up the struggle to quit the fight.” In Urban Dictionary it also says that it comes from boxing: “When a boxer is too beat up to continue, his coach throws a towel into the ring to signal that the fight is over.”
It also says here that it could be in origin of throwing up the white flag, which means surrender. I had been very busy laying much groundwork for two businesses, my REO business. It is still realty work, but different. And also I have been attempting to publish a new book. I am still not fully established in either business even though a lot of legwork has been done. When I decided to take the towel to the beach and relax, I ended up finding two new clients to work with.