Musing on literary gestations
Writing a book is often likened to having a baby. It’s a long, arduous, long, exhilarating, long, painful, long, rewarding – did I say long? – process. Publication Day for my second novel is May 8, 2018, nine months from today. In human terms, that makes today, Aug. 8, Conception Day.
In reality, this book’s birthing has been almost double the two years it takes elephants! I wrote the first draft in November 2013. (Like my first novel, SPARROW MIGRATIONS, it came into being during National Novel Writing Month.) I spent June and July on final revisions. During the forthcoming nine months, I’ll revisit some of these highlights and lowlights in a time-lapse retelling of literary gestation:
- The spark of inspiration
- Keeping the faith over four years
- New and old midwives
- Choosing a name
- First pictures
Installments will come trimesterly, so I’ll post the next in early November.
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Image credit: Bernard DuPont. Creative Commons license