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.

Chapter 2 Out The Door

Whoot!

Last night I decided to go to sleep shortly after blogging. I decided that it was better to delay the submission by one day than to stay up until 8am.

So tonight I finished the chapter. I even had time to go over it one more time, top to bottom, doing lots of minor edits. I love the "last proofread" edit. As an author, you want the chapter to have good continuity throughout. If you use the term "portfolio project" early in the chapter, and then settle on "team project" near the end, that final edit will catch it.

Anyays, to bed. I had an incredible night writing. Listening to New Order. I just purchased their Best Of... and Rest Of... albums and that got me through the night in blazing speed.

Chapter 2 was 8,156 words with 11 figures.

Chapter 2 Still Coming

Here it is, 3 o'clock in the morning, and I have promised my editor I would submit the next chapter by tomorrow morning (or should I say, this morning).

And so I have made the decision to keep writing until either the chapter is done, or I am done.

With 6,300 words under my belt, and a target of 8,500, I still have a way to go. At 500 words per hour, I still have about 4 hours of writing left. Can I do it all tonight (and be a wreck at work tomorrow), or should I decide to be another day late with it? I have done two nights in a row at work until 11pm, so delaying will only work if I can come home early.

I'll have to decide soon.

Rediscovering the Passion for Writing

There is no denying it... I love writing. Between the blogs that I keep, and the books that I write, I can't ever see myself giving it up.

Don't get me wrong. Writing a book is a lot of work. But once you get going - once you get into a groove - the words just come flowing out of you, and before you know it another chapter is done.

Tonight, I wrote 2,000 words in about 4 hours. That's a blistering pace of 500 words per hour. Some might think that is a fast pace, while others see that as being slow. To me, it feels fast however I am always shocked to discover that I "only" wrote 2,000 words after what felt like an extremely productive night.

Of course, many things interfere with the creating of a computer book:
* Creating figures and illustrations (typically screen shots)
* Creating sample code
* Doing some impromptu research on the topic you are writing about (ie: compiling a list of vendors that will support something)

Each of those take time, and don't count towards the 500 words per hour pace. So really I spent 30 minutes writing 500 words, and 30 minutes taking screen shots, doing research, downloading and installing extra software, and just playing with what I am supposed to be writing about.

By the way, the Team System book is coming along nicely. Chapter 2 is at 4,000 words (with 9 figures so far), and I have another 6-8 hours of work left to finish it off.

Catching Up With My Children

It feels like it's been a long time since I checked out what was happening with the two books I have already written and published. At least a year. I was surprised by some of the things that I found:

* A University course that recommends my JavaScript book as part of its syllabus (suggested references)
* Amazon.com currently ranks it as 4.5 stars, with 5 reviews. It's sales rank is 18,000 which is a lot higher than it has been in the past
* My book can be bought for as little as $3 (ugh, no royalties on that I bet)
* My JavaScript book is cited in another book, Microsoft Office Frontpage 2003: The Complete Reference