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.

I've already been asked to write my next book -- my third. I probably would have said, "No, I need a bit of a rest," except this book is on a topic I absolutely am dying to get into:

MCSD Study Guide: Analyzing Requirements and Defining .NET Solution Architectures (Exam 70-300)

Wow. Designing programs using .NET. Man oh man, how lucky am I? I'm jealous of myself. And I have a co-author on this project too boot!

Of course, I have no idea how I am going to get this done within the schedule I set for myself. But it will be like the HTDE JavaScript project, keep mindful of the calendar and work on it every day.

As long as I write 1 page, 2 pages, 5 pages every day -- no matter what -- I'll make the deadline. The moment I let several days go by without any progress is the moment I lose this game.

I'm marking that down as lesson number 1 from the last project. Constant progress, fast or slow, wins over no progress every time.

Lesson number 2 has to do with writing technique. I found it easier when starting a new chapter to work on the chapter outline as a whole first before putting final sentences and paragraphs in. A few hours invested in filling out the outline for each chapter more than pays for itself in the end.

It's about knowing what you're going to say before you start writing.

I'm not sure whether to keep this log going for the new project or start a new one. I'm inclined to keep this one going... I'll think about it over the next few days.

Best wishes to all,
Scott