My baby

A colleague at work asked about my baby the other day.

Without missing a beat I asked: You mean my manuscript?

It turned out he had me mixed up with another colleague. BUT there was an awkward moment — or two or three — when he realised I was NOT joking about my manuscript.

Here are the top 10 reasons why a manuscript is like a baby:

1. It spends nine months — and often longer — in germination.
2. It keeps you awake at night.
3. You want to punch people who criticise it, but then you spend weeks worrying that its nose really is too big.
4. You buy books and trawl the web seeking advice on how to look after it, but in the end it comes down to instinct.
5. You celebrate finishing the first chapter like a parent celebrates a first step.
6. You cannot wait to put it to bed, but when you do you want to pick it up again.
7. You are riddled with guilt when you spend time away from it.
8. If it gets sick you forget to eat, shower or answer the phone until you have fixed it.
9. You talk to it and often it talks back.
10. You know that one day you will have to cut the apron strings and let it go out into the wide world.