I've just received the first author copies of my new book, Do You Ever Cry, Dad?, and, as always, I feel the same combination of exhilaration and anxiety. I remember receiving the printed copies of my first book and having the same two emotions - that great surge of adrenaline at seeing the final product finally become real, and that cold nervousness at wondering whether anyone other than my mom was ever going to read a word of it.

As any writer knows, the journey of writing a book is very much its own reward. Others choosing to read it is a separate reward, related but independent of the process itself. The journey of writing this book has been particularly rich and rewarding because it was so hard to do. If others choose to read it, I will be overjoyed. But the first part of the journey, once completed, will always contain its own special magic.