Baby II

Yesterday’s blog on being a new parent took me back to this time last year when I was just learning to be a new dad. I had read every parenting book I could get my hands on and had interrogated friend after friend about what I needed to know. I was ready, or so I thought. The thing about parenting is that you can hear and read and study all you want but until the baby comes, it just isn’t the same. Once junior arrives is when your education really begins.

Isn’t the same true of authoring a book? You can read self help guides all you want and talk to as many published authors as you like and so on, but it isn’t until you start your own writing that the real education begins. Things like plot and characters that sounded easy in a book or when someone else was describing them become difficult when it is your own story. It is all left to you and that, my friends, is a whole different story. Like with parenting, the most learning occurs once you start the actual journey. Go ahead. Be an author. Commit to it. Like with having a kid, writing a book is worth the effort.

Oh, did I mention that I am keeping Son #2 (son #1 is the dog) all by myself today? Hmm … I suspect my authoring career may not advance too far in the next few hours …