I do not so much write a book as sit up with it, as with a dying friend. During visiting hours, I enter its room with dread and sympathy for its many disorders. I hold its hand and hope it will get better. This tender relationship can change in a twinkling. If you skip a visit or two, a work in progress will turn on you.
In Annie Dillard's "The Writing Life," the author likens the process of writing a book to caring for a dying friend. She describes her experience as one filled with dread and empathy, feeling the weight of the book's struggles and imperfections as if they were human ailments. This intimate bond involves a commitment to nurture and hope for the work's recovery and improvement.
However, Dillard warns that this relationship can shift...