There’s an Amazon discussion group titled BBA, Books are Not Babies. The group ,mainly discovers and discusses authors who have lost perspective on the whole publishing game, and defend their books from all criticism, claiming their books are their ‘special babies,’ not to be criticized in any way.
Yeah these people can get a bit extreme especially when they start trying to argue with reviewers. In case you were wondering, no, you do not want to be arguing with reviewers.
However there are some significant similarities between producing a book and producing a child.
It can take months, or even years, to complete a book. During that time you build and grow your germ of an idea until it is
ready for the real world. When it comes time to reveal that book to the world you polish up the outside until it’s slick and shiny and just plain pretty. Same as dressing your child in their very best to meet the family.
Each time after I finished my first books I felt a vague unease, as if everything was a let down. Similar, I realized, to postpartum depression. I had lived and breathed that book for months and now…it was done. There was nothing more I could do with the book and it seemed there was nothing else I really wanted to do.
This is when some writers turn to reading obsessively, catching up on books they missed while immersing themselves in their own book. Some are able to immediately
turn to a new story, particularly if they’re under a time crunch. I tend to garden and usually come out of my stupor to look around a the piles of piles of who knows what that at one time pretended to be tables in my work area.
There’s nothing wrong with thinking of your book as your ‘baby’ as long as you don’t then decide to protect that baby from the cold cruel world. Do the best you can with writing, with editing, then slap that best dress in the closet on as a cover and send it off to prom. You have a lot more where that one came from!
Plus we have a LOT more great blogs in this hop. Check them out, then do the Rafflecopter magic.
http://www.linkytools.com/basic_linky_include.aspx?id=259911 Winner gets a Kindle, and a LOAD of wonderful books. Second and Third prizes are gift cards. And if you drop in on the Facebook group you’ll find discussions and recipes and contests all weekend. Check it out here: a Rafflecopter giveaway//widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js
Mona Karel Author 