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Giving Birth to Your Story By Lesley Hershman
Every author becomes a mother when she begins to create a written work. For male writers, producing a piece of writing will be the closest they ever come to being pregnant and giving birth to that adorable bouncing bundle of joy named Story. (And if the writer finds that eating a vast number of 3 Musketeers bars eases his writing anxieties as much as I do, he'll notice a similar weight gain as well.) Man or woman, prepare yourself to become a WriterMom as you nurture your precious story baby.
Now it's the
newborn phase, that special time when you and brand new Story are still getting
to know each other. Story requires a lot of attention during this period and
you, as a new parent, are not always confident you are doing everything
correctly to satisfy Story's needs. You're certainly feeding Story a lot,
everything that you hope is good and healthy for her. You fear giving her
something that will make her irritable and hard to be around-- or at the very
least, cause a lot of hiccups. Somehow, though,
you both make it through some sleepless nights and crying jags (yours, not
Story's) to toddlerhood. Here Story often stumbles or careens wildly as she
finds her legs, and you hold your breath, praying that Story will make it
through unscathed. You also find yourself worrying about Story's development. Is
she moving along as she should be at this stage? You might find yourself
consulting with other WriterMommies to get some advice to make sure that Story
is progressing properly. Some WriterMoms will be honest and tell you that they
have concerns about their own little Stories, too. Others, though, will smugly
brag that their Story is perfect, and they're already confident that their young
offspring is pure genius. A little while
later, your Story matures into an older child, who requires slightly less of
your constant attention and worry. Sure, you're still concerned and attentive,
but you can see that Story is finally forming into an independent entity and
doesn't need you hovering over every word every minute. Then Story hits the teenage years and you find yourself longing to go back to the sweet innocent days of infanthood, when all and everything was possible. Story could have grown up to be a Pulitzer Prize nominee or a Newbery Medal winner. But now it becomes apparent that Story has taken her own direction, and doesn't always easily follow the path you want her to. For a brief moment, you think of exercising some tough love with this rebellious teenaged Story, and casting her out of the house until she does exactly as you want. During this rough phase, you may even dally with the idea of rushing to create a sweet new baby story. But then you look at Story again and recognize something wonderful about her. You realize that despite the hardships of raising this often headstrong child, you really do love her. Maybe she was right to sometimes not go easily in the directions you wanted her to go.
With a rush of
pride, you see that she has grown into something solid and good, and that she's
finally ready to be nudged out of the nest. It's the moment you've been working
towards since Story was just a twinkle in your eye, but it is still a scary
proposition. You put off her actual departure for as long as possible, but
finally you know you must send her out into the big world all alone. When you
do, you hope that others will treat your Story well. You want everyone to
respect her, appreciate her, and even love her as much as you do. Congratulate
yourself as you watch Story follow her destiny. You were a devoted single
parent, nurturing and guiding Story all on your own. It didn't take a village to
raise this child. (It will, however, take a pretty big village to make Story
number one on the New York Times best-seller list.) And then don't be an
empty nester for long. Be fruitful and create a sibling for your Story.
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