Diary – 23 June 2007

I have long thought there is no analogy quite so perfect for the process of writing a book as childbirth. There is the initial stage when it’s little more than a fond idea, until you sell it to the publisher. The months of research as the deadline marches inexorably nearer, the periodic panic during that process that maybe it wasn’t such a good idea after all, then the labour — 12 hours a day at your computer, seven days a week for three months — OK, a little longer than the average baby takes, but you get the drift. Then that triumphant moment, that in the darkest hours you thought would never arrive, when you press Print, and finally produce something to show for all the months of backache and pain; the relief and exhaustion as you hold it lovingly and feel the weight of your creation warm against your breast.