What did you expect?

With three weeks to go until the publication of The Girl on the Bus, I feel like an expectant father once again. The emotions are pretty much the same- if not quite as acute. At first, you are simply delighted at the prospect of that special date, marked on the calendar and enthusiastically shared with all your friends and family. Each morning, you check the date and sigh expectantly. Then, despite the gentle reassurances of the professionals, you begin to worry if your creation is healthy and strong enough to cope out there in the world. You hope it will not face too much criticism and rejection, that it resembles you and your values, and perhaps most of all you hope that some people will love it as much as you do. But all of this, like the future of your unborn child is utterly beyond your control. That special day will arrive, your creation will be born to the world and its life amongst the public will begin. So ultimately it becomes a matter of trust and the knowledge that, despite their reception by the outside world, your creation will always remain special to you.