06 August 2003

Writing & Authoring - Part II

So, I got quite a bit of great response from everyone on my previous blog about writing and authoring! Thanks everyone for the support, and wonderful feedback!

Well, being very goal oriented and task driven, I've set forward the following goals/tasks:

  • Write at least 10 web articles. This will, hopefully, get me lots of feedback and help me polish my skills (as Scott Mitchell suggests).
  • Write as a co-author on at least 2 books. To me, this will help me get a good feel for how the formal book process works, editing revisions, etc... Matthew Reynolds says that it's not that much different then writing your own. If you're passionate enough about your subject, you'll have no problem writing solo. But, to me, that's just alot of pressure to try to take on as your first real task, writing a book solo. Perhaps I'm making a mountain out of a mole hill, though.
  • And, finally, write 1 or more books solo.

So, there's my roadmap! We'll see how well I can accomplish these tasks within the next year!

Thanks again, everyone, for your support!

Filed under:

Comments

# HumanCompiler said:

Good luck! :)

Wednesday, August 06, 2003 10:49 PM
# Eric Gunnerson said:

One thing that sets the good communicators apart from the poor ones is the ability to write for the audience. The important decisions are not what you tell the audience, but rather what you choose *not* to tell the audience. I've seen lots of books, articles, and presentations, and right in the middle, I find myself saying, "Why is he telling them *that*?" Extra information or too much detail is always a bad thing.

I've tried to co-write a few things. Perhaps it's my need to be in control, but not being able to organize things the way that I want to drove me crazy. Not being able to modify an explanation so that it worked drove my crazy. I decided after trying it that I didn't want to ever do it again.

Your mileage may vary.

Oh, and one more bit of advice. Gary Cornell (my publisher and head of Apress) told me "write the book that you would like to read". That was great advice when I wrote my C# book.

Thursday, August 07, 2003 12:04 AM