I have a couple of friends that are pregnant with their first child. When the stick turned pink they didn't believe it, so they tinkled again ... and pink!
Now they're getting ready to enter their second trimester and all of these "what" questions are starting to surface:
What will the first kick feel like?
What will the baby be, boy or girl?
What will my stomach look like after?
What crib do I buy?
What does labor feel like?
Does it hurt?
I'm a mom of three boys, aka the mini-me's, and I remember asking ALL of these questions and more. Certain there was truth out there I consulted Web MD, What to Expect When You're Expecting, the chat boards and on, and on, and on. Everything and everyone provided completely contradicting information from flutters to pops for the first movement and tiny pinches to extreme pain for the first contraction. I wasn't sure what to expect or when to expect it. I was certain that I would miss the slow trickle and prayed for the major gush of water breaking. If I was drenched, then SOMEBODY would know what to do, because I sure as hell didn't!
When mini-me #1 was born, there was no trickle, there was no gush. The night before I was sick to my stomach, anxious, uncomfortable, crampy and then Crampy and then HOLY COW, OUCH ... CRAMPY!!!!
I guessed, maybe, it was time to go to the hospital?
I started feeling the same way about a year ago.
I wasn't pregnant, I was quitting my job to BE a writer.
After thirty-something years of loving something my darling husband and I sat down and figured out it was now or never.
Time to stop talking and start typing.
I tinkled on the writer stick and it turned pink!
I had a story in my head that I was dying to share and I wanted to do it right.
I read and read and read.
I took classes and read.
I learned how to plot from the best! (thank you
CJ Redwine)
I typed like a fiend.
I learned how to write a query letter! (again, thank you CJ)
I found friends and networked and found friends that became critique partners
I pushed through hard parts and cried occasionally when I knew the words S-uuuuu-cked.
I learned how to write a synopsis! (I think you know what goes here.)
Finally, I sent my work off to my critique partners.
And felt my first kick!
I wasn’t delusional to the think that my first draft would be BRILLIANT, but I also didn’t expect to see plot holes the size of the Grand Canyon.
One more thing -- and I’m really, really working on it – but I suck at punctuation.
I promise … I make daily visits to
Grammar Girl.
And then, I bang my head against a wall while screaming, “WHY DIDN’T YOU PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR ENGLISH TEACHERS!!!!!”
The critiques were exactly what I needed, asked for and dreaded all at the same time. They were my contractions. I knew I couldn’t wait for the day they came. I know I need them to have a beautiful, bouncing, baby book.
I just wished there was an epidural I could ask for right about now, but I guess you can’t ask for that until you’re in Active Book Labor; I’m told there are heaps, and mountains and truck loads of chocolate involved. :-D
I’m also sure, there are published authors out there saying, “If you think this is painful --you who are only in your third book trimester-- just wait till you get to the agent search, the publishing edits and then the actual release.” Then they go and snicker with their Snickers as they edit books 2, 3, 4 or MORE! So jealous ... of both their books and their epidural of Snickers. ;-D
So here's to one day reaching Active Book Labor!
Whew, a girl can dream ... right?
