Hi there. My name is Scott Duffy, and welcome to my book writing log. I have documented the process of writing my last two books on this site, and have started my third. This book will be called Visual Studio Team System In Action, and should be available in 2005.

The first chapter was completed at 8500 words. My first deadline is this week, and I am on target to meet it.

I just found out that I will be getting a new editor over at Osborne. That doesn't really affect me too much, as I haven't really begun working with one yet. I would be much more concerned if I had submitted six chapters already and then had to switch to a new editor.

I already have a few words written for Chapter 2. Tonight, writing came very easily and I wish I could continue writing all night. I used to be able to do that - last year when I didn't have a day job - but can't afford to do that now. Just when I am starting to get going, I have to stop and go to bed.

On a side note, I'm being asked to submit a proposal for another book. I don't know if I will have time to write it, but there is no harm submitting a proposal. I already have some existing content that can be reused, and I would consider hiring a ghost writer (or, more accurately, some contract help) to help me convert it to the format of the new book. We will see about that.

In the next day or two I have to capture all of the screenshots I was planning to use as figures in the first chapter. Osborne has some really weird requirements for screen shots, including very explicit configuration of the desktop and very specific crappy software that I need to use to capture the images. Oh well. I guess consistency between books is very important - most readers just don't realize how hard it is to do a lousy screen capture!

Best wishes,
Scott