Writing I (Tidbit)

George Orwell says that writing a book is like suffering a long and terrible illness. I like to say that, as a male, writing is the closest I will ever come to giving birth. There are many analogies: the ecstasy of the initial conception of the idea; the long gestation process during which other thoughts congeal around the embryo, which gradually grows in size and complexity; the arduous and agonizing labor of expressing it (which literally means "pushing it out") in language, giving it a definite shape; upon looking at it, the mix of parental pride (“look what I made”) and postpartum depression (“but it’s an ugly little thing”); and the finished product, which exists apart from its maker but in which the maker can still be recognized.