(Originally published Feb. 20, 2008).
The sale of a writer’s first book has to rank right up there with life’s great moments — the scaling of Everest, the invention of nuclear fission or the Theory of Relativity, the creation of a child.
Now, some of you may think it strange, even flippant of me to compare the creation of a human being to the creation of a collection of words. However, it seems to me there are certain similarities. For example:
- Conception is the fun part; giving birth, not so much;
- The gestation period seems like a century, much of it spent in acute discomfort;
- We labor to give birth to our creation;
- Birth only marks the beginning of the job;
- We make most of our mistakes on our firstborn;
- We nurture our creations, attending to their needs, their health, their grooming;
- At some point we have to cut the apron strings and let go;
- Sometimes the little suckers return home for more TLC;
- No matter what other people say, we continue to love our creations through thick and thin, through criticism and rejection;
- The end product is an endless source of delight and tears; joy and fulfilment; hope and pride.