‘Are you ready?’ a kind but optimistic friend asked me a few weeks ago with a look of genuine concern. But I am not on the verge of moving house, getting married, starting a new job or having a baby, all of which might have merited her anxiety. Instead, my friend was cautioning me to prepare for the scrutiny involved in publishing a book.

The analogy is often made between childbirth and the moment of a book’s emergence into the world after a period of largely private gestation. But the unconditional applause given to the parents of a much longed-for newborn, wrapped in a soft blanket, is not guaranteed for the creator of something made of paper and enclosed in unforgiving boards.

Writers are not unusual in wondering whether they should ‘be careful what they wish for’

Up until the birth

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