For a dyed-in-the-wool author nothing is as dead as a book...

For a dyed-in-the-wool author nothing is as dead as a book once it is written ... she is rather like a cat whose kittens have grown up. While they were a-growing she was passionately interested in them but now they seem hardly to belong to her, and probably she is involved with another batch of kittens as I am involved with other writing.