Gestation

(from Latin gerere)
1. The period of carrying in the womb.

2. The conception and development of a plan or an idea in the mind.

Matthew turns one today, and in a few weeks time my first book will be launched. They shared the same gestation period. Of course I only carried Matthew for nine months whereas the book has taken three years to research, write and publish. Both arrived late! Matthew was meant to come in January and I was hoping Women of Note would make it to the shelves in 2011.

But we don’t really have control over the timing of these kinds of creative miracles. They come when they are ready and not before. And that ends up being the perfect time.

As it turns out February is a much better time to have a book launch, and not just because summer is the perfect time for champagne sundowners! February is also the host of the Perth Writer’s Festival. What better time to launch my book baby than when the eyes of the national and international media are on Perth? Couldn’t have planned it better if I’d tried!

Matthew may be feeling neglected at the moment with his mum so enthralled by her work. But not for much longer; the book will be grown up and moving out soon – set free on the shelves to live its own life. Matthew and I will be entwined for many more years to come.