The Idea:
The decision to have a baby is a lot like the decision to write a book; it begins with a very idealist view that you are going to create the most incredible baby/book that ever was. This level of confidence might be essential to help with what comes later.
The Gathering of Information:
Baby: The whole nine months of your pregnancy gives you heaps amounts of time to research, research, research! Our appetite for information is voracious during this period when we try and assemble as many facts as possible to get us through those post delivery worries with ease.
Book: The information phase is also imperative when you are sitting down to write a book. You have to know your subject(s) well. When you are in a flow of writing, you don’t want to stop every moment to fact check.
The Nesting Period:
Baby: A couple of months before you deliver you go through what is commonly regarded as the nesting phase. You want to buy everything you’ll need, clean, redecorate, get the house in order, so life feels ready and for your new addition.
Book: When it comes to your book the equivalent of the nesting phase is burying your head in your computer and not coming out of your room for two months. There is a boundless energy when you begin to write, and it can take remarkably little time to get a first draft down when you are in a flow.
It’s only when you read the first draft and try and dissect some of the jumbles and run on sentences that you know your work has really begun.
The delivery:
Baby and book: It’s the moment you have most longed for and feared most since the beginning of your pregnancy and likewise can be said of your book. The moment when your novel and newborn are exposed to the outside world can be a truly terrifying experience.
The aftermath:
Baby: There is such a high once your baby comes into the world that it can take a while to get things back to normal and create a routine.
Book: The same can be said of your book. The expectation is so high at the beginning that you have to come somewhat back to earth and create a schedule. It’s so important to put the work in so you can get your novel out there to it’s audience and give your book a fighting chance at the success it deserves.
Katie Kirby has just launched her new book Could It be You which was written at home in Sandycove Dublin between the births of her two little girls, now aged 2 and 6 weeks. Katie is a theatre and screen actress, and has appeared in plays like Noel Coward’s The Vortex, Lady Windermere’s Fan at the Gate Theatre, in restaurant drama series Raw, and Boy Eats Girl f or Element Pictures. Follow her on twitter, @katiekay1002.
