Dianne Neal Matthews with an encouraging word for the second Monday of the month. Ever since I attended my first conference, I’ve heard people compare writing a book to giving birth. The more I write, the more I see how appropriate that analogy can be.
Back in July 2004, I sent an email to tell my friends about the birth of my first grandchild. A couple days later, I emailed this “birth announcement”:
EXCITING NEWS
By now all of you know about the birth of our granddaughter, but I haven’t told everyone about our second little miracle. The day after Lacey’s birth, I received a call from Tyndale House informing me that I had conceived a book. I had been trying for about three years, so the diagnosis came as quite a shock.
It’s a little scary becoming a first-time author this late in life, especially since this will involve six months of labor with a due date of Feb. 1. But I believe the training I have had at the Write-to-Publish conferences has prepared me for a safe delivery with no complications. (I don’t expect any contractions, but I did experience my first contract during the second week. Thanks to classes I’ve taken, I knew what to expect and it went well.)
I don’t need an ultrasound since I already know the genre of my surprise—it’s nonfiction. We’re thinking about the name, “The Believer’s Book of Days”, but that could change. [Tyndale and I later decided on The One Year On This Day.]
Sadly, I won’t get to see my little bundle of devotions until several months after delivery. Tyndale will be doing a thorough checkup and performing any corrective surgery they deem necessary, but they assure me that by next October BBOD (for short) will be strong and ready for visitors.
If you would like to support us in this happy event, I plan to be registered at Berean Bookstore and Barnes and Noble in Champaign, and Family Christian Store in Urbana by the end of next year.
P.S. I hope little BBOD resembles my Father more than me.
While I was pregnant with my first son in 1977, I read a lot of books about the experience of pregnancy and childbirth, but none about taking care of a baby. So after the birth, I went into panic mode, thinking What in the world am I supposed to do now? I did the same with my first book. I’d read books on the writing process itself, but none on the topic of marketing. So after publication I was clueless, wondering What in the world am I supposed to be doing now? Thank goodness for resources like CAN that help prepare us for responsible “parenting” after our books are published.
Like many of you, I’m nearing the due date for my latest “baby”. I don’t get out in public much these days…having a lot of back and neck pain…struggling with fears…it’s getting harder to breathe. But I’m determined to do right by my baby and be its best advocate, nurturing its entrance into the world and introducing it around. That’s the least I can do after such a long, hard labor of love. (And by the way, for those of you who cope with multiple births so close together, I really don’t know how you do it!)
