Bringing a book to life is a lot like having a child, not that I have a good base of experience in either as 1.) I’m still editing my book and 2.) my eight furry feline children aren’t quite the same as human ones- no matter how much I might insist otherwise. Seriously though, I’ve just had a long conversation with myself and oddly enough it made more sense than any of the randomness spewing from my brain should.

Returning to my attention deficit point, completing a book (in every aspect- not just reaching that ever magical and elusive ending) is a lot like having a child. You spend months, which often seem like years, bringing it to life and the birth is a painful process. That much I can speak from experience on the book side of things. I’ve typed ‘the end’ and spent much time in recovery (pre-editing procrastination).

And just like motherhood it doesn’t get any easier after that.

Rough drafts are often akin to unruly children. You do all you can do, guiding them in what you hope is the right direction. Sometimes they make you proud and get there straight away,… sometimes they take a side trip through juvenile hall. They’ll surprise the heck out of you and do what they want but it won’t always be a bad thing. I think I’m young enough to say that sometimes the kids are right and the same goes for your rough draft. *wink*

You baby them, bribe them and, for many of us, guard them with tooth and nail. You argue, plead, pry and might occasionally make them sit in the corner. In the end it’s all out of love.

After your book’s matured a little and you’re sitting there wondering how the hell you both survived the ‘teenage phase’ you can’t help but cry in joy and sorrow because you know it’s time to send it out into the world. You might even find yourself reminiscing over those horrid and unruly days when your story needed more than a little help figuring out what it was.

It all depends on what kind of parent you are to your story and what kind of book your story had ‘decided’ it wants to be because let’s face it- it’s old enough now to make it’s own decisions and probably has been for awhile. Maybe this makes you cry but just think about it. Your writing has come to life, you’re speaking of it as a separate being outside yourself and right fully so!

It might tell you it’s unsure if it’s good enough for one publisher or another or that it would really prefer you name such and such character something entirely different- at the last minute of course. Characters make a story like limbs and organs make a person so they’ll have a lot of say too. Some might randomly declare they’re a different gender or go on a date with the bad guy. You can’t do anything about it anymore though because as the parent of your story you’re just along for the ride, chauffeuring them from one party to the next.

I’m getting off track, back to the vague direction I was heading in… depending how willing you are to let your book go out into the world and how ready your book is to fly the coop will decide whether or not it’s one of those children who lives with you till it’s forty or if they move half way across the country and never speak to you again.

If you’re really lucky they’ll leave the writing nest (you know, that mass of paper piles, projects, cat hair, and old soda bottles that you deem your ‘office’) and call you from time to time, visiting for the holidays with a decent royalty check in tow.

Good luck.