When Your Book Flies the Nest
You may have heard how some writers feel like their books are their babies—loving and nurturing (and being driven crazy!) by them. Some argue it isn’t a fair metaphor since books are a business, but I think it’s an apt analogy. Just like babies, books “grow up”. You work hard to sculpt and shape them into the best they can be, then, with time, they’re ready to take on the world.
Your book is the same. You finish writing it, you put it out there and then it has to fly on its own. Yes, you want to shepherd it as best you can, but once it’s in someone else’s hands, it’s their choice what they do with it. Like a parent, there’s only so much you can do to ensure your story’s success.
And that’s freeing! Absolutely we worry about our children and our books out on their own, but we can’t (or shouldn’t) ascribe what happens to them as the sole basis for our success or failure. So if your book doesn’t get picked up by a literary agent or you don’t sell a lot of copies, that’s no more a reflection on you as a writer than it would reflect on you as a parent if your children didn’t get a job they’d interviewed for. We can only do so much—for our children and our books. It’s scary to relinquish control, but, it’s also liberating.
Now you can focus on your next story. 🙂