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Happy "Birth" Day: Love You More Releases Today

People compare writing a book with giving birth. As the mother of four, three by birth and one by adoption, I find the birth/book completion analogy a useful though imperfect one.

As I did with my all children, I was able to name my book. Well, sort of. That is, I gave a list of possible titles to the publisher and waited as a decision was made. But, as was the case with my children, I brainstormed that list with my husband, spoke the titles out loud, and wrote them down to see how they looked.

And, yes, I had the sense - after finally finishing the book and sending it via email to my editor - that I'd just accomplished something rather monumental. I ran my fingers along the spines of the books in my house. They sat silently on shelves, waiting to be opened and to burst into story. I felt impressed by all of the courageous and resilient souls who had managed to perform such a feat and fill those covers with their stories. I felt the same way when, after giving birth, I saw young mothers nonchalantly pushing their grocery carts around stores, their babies sleeping snugly in car seats. How in the world do people manage to go through such a mystical, wrenching, and beautiful experience and then go back to the mundane details of their lives?, I wondered.

There is another way giving birth and writing a book are similar and that is that everyone wants to know - right from the beginning - when it will come out. (Well, generally speaking, people don't ask about a baby's due date so crassly, but you get the point.)

But to the author scratching away at a manuscript that seems to refuse to take shape and to the pregnant woman waiting out long months of heartburn and other discomforts, that date can feel impossibly significant and unreal at the same time. And there is no hurrying to it.

My due date for Love You More is, finally and unbelievably, today! It has been birthed, released, shelved in bookstores, mailed to people's homes, and even delivered instantly by "Whispernet" (Whispernet? What?) to the world.

And, just as I finish writing this post, my computer screen flashes to let me know I've just received email from my priest. The message reads:

Congratulations, again, on this "birth" day.