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.

Now the real fun begins.

Last night I received the first nine chapters as page proofs. They were in the form of PDF files, although some publishers will send actual printed copies by FedEx. Page proofs look exactly like what the pages of the real book will look like. Very exciting to see.

And this is really my last chance to correct errors. I did manage to find a dozen or so in the first chapter. Either minor typos, or graphics in the wrong place, or other layout problems. It really is fun to sit down and read the book cover to cover -- it may actually be the last time I read it. After all, am I actually going to sit and read a book I just spent six months writing? (Well, I may. But probably not.)

At the same time, I have also been submitting the revisions to my Word documents for recent chapters, based on comments from the tech and copy editors. The first two chapters were a major headache in this regard, requiring mass rewrites, deletions and moving things around. Ever since the third chapter, it has never been more than a few lines or the occasional redone graphic. Either I have gotten better as a writer, or my editors have given up trying to get me to change. I don't know which.

This is the part of the book writing process that requires the most time. Consider that it took me a month to write the first chapter. Other chapters took two weeks simply because my "real life" had taken over and I was unable to contribute much to the book. But now, I am submitting a chapter every few days, and juggling revisions and page proofs at the same time. Good thing I have some time.

I'll also be glad when its over. ;)

Scott