A book is like a baby

Producing a book is a bit like having a baby (it seems to me - ladies, please don't rush to hit me over the head in outrage at the comparison - bear with me on this one).

• It takes quite a long time to produce - something like four years in the case of this book.
• The production process - copy editing, proofreading, design, layout, agreeing the price - is as involved as pre-natal classes.
• There may be a big debate about what to call it...
• The final stages can be a little tortuous
• Then there's the real, real final stage - when the book has gone to press, but it isn't yet live and available for sale - a bit like going into labour, surely, what with all the nervous pacing of the expectant 'parent', and so on?

That's where I am at the moment; hoping, expecting, waiting, worrying. And, after it comes out (the book or the baby), there's the worry about whether it will look OK and what other people will think...

Not long to go now.  Resumes nervous pacing...