There are so many similarities between having a baby and writing a book. I am currently experiencing book labour myself. Check out the similarities below and can someone get me some hot towels – the story’s head can be seen!

1. You are going to give birth to something wonderful on both counts.
2. Giving birth involves some strained facial expressions and a lot of yelling. Getting to the final stages of writing a book involves some strained facial expressions and a lot of yelling too.
3. During childbirth the mother might rely on gas and air to help her manage the pain. During the birth of a first draft the writer might rely on wine, cheese and Twitter to help manage the literary pain.
4. During pregnancy the mother might sit and daydream about what life will be like once baby appears. During the final stages of writing a book a writer will also sit and daydream about what life will be like once their first draft is finished. These daydreams might feature literary agents beating down their door and publishers stalking them. Sigh!
5. There is a lot of joy and elation once baby has been born. There is also a lot of joy and elation once the writer screams ‘I have finished my novel’  from their laptop. Some loved ones will rush to congratulate them and some may grunt and carry on watching the sport on TV.
6. Once baby arrives the sleepless nights will start for the new parents. Once the writer finishes their book the sleepless nights also start. Lying awake in the small hours thinking “is my novel any good?”  and “have I just wasted six months of my life?”
7. People want to look and coo at a new baby. People also want to look at and read a draft book once it’s finished. Some will coo after reading it and some will just give the writer a worried look.
8. You are not the same after having a baby. You are not the same after writing a book.
9. Once baby arrives new parents can worry about it, get paranoid when it sneezes or screams a lot. The same happens to a writer after completing their first draft. They worry and get paranoid about the opening chapter, the plot and reviewer’s reactions to it.
10. After a mother endures the pain and suffering of labour, the sleepless nights and the hard graft she may ask herself whether she could do it all again.  A writer goes through same process. Once they finish their book, enduring the mental exhaustion that comes with writing 80k words, the painful writing block episodes, the editing dramas they too ask themselves whether they could do it all again?

Be proud of your literary babies writers!

photo credit: Stocksnaps