Scott Duffy's Book Writing Log

Good Writing Day

Scott Duffy — 2004-10-10T20:35:29Z

I had an excellent few hours of writing today. Unfortunately, it was cut short to run off for Thanksgiving dinner. Now at this point, my American friends are saying, "Thanksgiving in October? Are you out of your mind?"

Well, Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in Canada. We are celebrating the fall harvest, which happens a little earlier up here due to the cold.

Overall, today was a 8/10. Slow start, but got into a groove.

It's All Coming Back To Me

Scott Duffy — 2004-10-04T05:11:30Z

Today, I spent most of the day installing the Visual Studio Team System software -- getting to know my patient, so to speak. For the next few months, I will be poking and prodding this thing, trying to convince it to surrender it's secrets. And today is the day I let it know who was boss.

OK, maybe that's a tad melodramatic. You can forgive a guy for looking at such a mundane task as installing software all day as something a bit more exciting than it is.

I feel a bit like Wil Wheaton tonight. "I am a professional author." Sure, I only earn a small percentage of my income from writing, but that qualifies as an author nonetheless. It's odd, but for the last few years I have pretty much gotten into a daily habit of writing. I write this blog, and 3 or 4 others. Besides programming, I spend a little of each day at work writing specifications and other technical documents. And some would say my emails tend to be on the long side - I can spend several hours crafting the perfect email.

So, in writing a book, the actual writing is not a problem for me. If I know what I want to say, I can say it.

That's a big "if"...

The thing about writing a book is that publishers, of course, expect their books to be in a certain format. In the olden days, before the Microsoft Word and the personal computer changed the face of writing, an author just had to ensure his typewriter was set to double space. Now, authors must make their manuscript conform to specific MS Word templates - ensuring every character is formatted correctly.

The challenge is learning all of the template styles, and when to use them. How do I format a bullet list again? How can I insert a table here?

Luckily, the publisher provides several examples and other documents to help you figure this all out. But this is the hardest part of writing Chapter 1... not what to write, but how to format it. It's all coming back to me now.

Chapter One, Page One

Scott Duffy — 2004-09-27T05:15:59Z

Well, I sat down tonight and finally started doing some actual writing. I got almost 3 pages down, in a period of about 2 hours.

Yes, I know 3 pages in 2 hours seems slow. But that's a great pace for me. If I can get the first chapter done in about 20 hours of work, I will be extremely happy.

Part of the challenge of writing the first few pages of a book, of course, is that I need to accomplish several things in chapter 1 that aren't a problem in later chapters:

* I want to capture the reader's attention - I don't want my book to be boring

* I want write to the level of the intended audience - I don't want to say things my readers won't understand, nor things my reader already knows

* It will set the tone for the rest of the book - a good first chapter makes a good book, a bad first chapter makes a bad book

The list could go on a bit longer, but I think you get my point. I want Chapter 1 to be a grand-slam home run - it will make my job easier for the next couple of months.

So far, so good. I like the way the book looks so far. It was fairly easy to write the first few pages.

Progress: 3 pages. 806 words.
Mood: Excellent, 10/10.

So, What's This Book Then?

Scott Duffy — 2004-09-27T03:54:03Z

As previously mentioned, I've signed a deal to write my third book. (Well, technically speaking it will be my fourth book, since my first book never got published.) The title of the book (at this point) is:

Visual Studio Team System In Action

Microsoft Visual Studio Team System is collection of software development tools designed to improve the productivity of development teams and quality of the software created by those teams. I have another blog at which I talk more about the technology inside Team System.

I have committed to write a manuscript of 350 pages. Luckily, I have several months to complete this project, so I will have the time to polish each chapter before having to send it in. It's been my experience that when I am forced to write more than 1 chapter per week, I don't have as much time to edit and re-edit as I would like.

When writing, for each subsection in a chapter, I typically go through a process similar to the following:
1) I decide what point I would like to get across in this section of the book
2) I write several paragraphs or pages to make that point
3) I go back over each sentence, revising words to clarify what I wanted to say. I add examples where required, move things around, or cut things out completely. Often, I find myself completely rewriting things if I don't like they way it had turned out.

So, having the extra time to do a proper job is one of the most appealing things about this project for me (second, of course, to the subject itself).

Over the next couple of months, as the book progresses, I will journal my progress here. If anyone has any questions or comments, please don't hesitate to add them.

Book Deal Signed

Scott Duffy — 2004-09-23T19:55:54Z

A couple of days ago, I put pen to paper and signed with Manning Publications for my next book. This one has got me *really* psyched. The topic is super-interesting, and I hope to do a really good job with it.

I'm not ready to reveal the topic or title yet, but I will say it has something to do with Microsoft technologies. My last book was on the Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD) program. My new book will deal with a Microsoft software title.

In fact, one of the coolest aspects for me (so far, at least) is how I took the chance at asking someone at Microsoft for help with the proposal, and they agreed to help me. Now that it has been approved, it looks like they are coming up with ways to help me that I could never have dreamed of. I might be invited down to Redmond, Washington to attend a demonstration. This is amazing and incredible. Words cannot describe how good I feel right now towards Microsoft as a whole, and these two Microsoft employees in particular.

I will get the book writing journal going again. You will be able to tune in here every few days for updates on how it's going - how many pages I've written, and what my mood is like. I hope every day will be a 10/10 on the mood scale - but I imagine to do a really excellent job on this I will have to suffer a few 2/10 days...

Up, up and away!

Do We Have a Deal?

Scott Duffy — 2004-09-03T00:49:15Z

Well, it looks like one of the pending book deals came through. You'll be hearing more from me in the coming weeks on this, once the ink dries on the contract.

But the other one is still in a bit of limbo. There apparently has been some personnel changes at the publishers, and so the status of my proposal is unknown. Depends on how the new boss wants to proceed with pending projects.

I'm going to press my agent to find another deal, just in case. I really think 1 deal over the coming 6-12 months is not enough. I need 1 for now, and 1 for the winter. Possibly 1 for the spring too!

Still Here, Still Waiting

Scott Duffy — 2004-08-21T05:12:09Z

Well, another week has passed, and not much progress has happened on the two book proposals.

The most promising one has been sent off to a few reviewers for comments. I was able to snag a couple of people from within Microsoft to review it, and hopefully they will give some incredible feedback to make this book the best one on the topic.

The other one has been held up by the acquisitions editor being on vacation. Hey, summer is the time for that. But I'm hoping to hear something early next week.

Have a good weekend to all!

Sitting Here, Patiently Waiting

Scott Duffy — 2004-08-10T18:08:33Z

Of the two proposals I sent out Sunday night, I heard back on one of them. It's looking good.

I haven't heard back from the publisher yet on the other one. This is the one that I am ready to start writing right away. I mean, I want to get started today!

Of course, 24 hours is a bit fast to expect a response. Tomorrow, if I haven't heard anything, I'll send a short email asking if she received my proposal. I don't want to be pushy - especially since I was so tardy myself submitting the proposal in the first place. But I want to "strike while the iron is hot" and get going. Momentum is a terrible thing to waste.