More than a year ago, maybe two years ago, one of our new friends in Seattle suggested that perhaps I should explore the idea of writing a book you might roughly categorize as self-help, advice, or something of that nature. The suggestion was made as a fan of my blog writing.
It occurred to me at that time that perhaps I could simply use what I had as the basis for a book. It's a far cry from the programming book I wrote and released in 2005 via a mainstream publisher, but it was still an idea that had merit. When the guys from 37signals release Rework, essentially a best-of from their blog, the idea had even more weight.
The problem is that I've had so many false starts on it that I started to think the idea was stupid. Then, one day, I was looking for an old post I made, when I realized that there were really two things at play. The first is that the subject matter I've written about is pretty broad. Some things, as I started to compile them, were too dated, and not even good writing. The second thing is that the quality of my conclusions and advice made a significant change around the 2006 time frame, after engaging in a new relationship and seeing the divorce finalized. Even the quality of my career choices was better after that.
With these realizations, I've thought a little about the project, and now I see it as "doable." Now, it has more focus. There are fewer categories of things worth writing about, specifically relationships, career and parenting, with an overall theme of growing up.
It's something I want to self-publish. I have no expectations for it, I just want to do it. It's on a short list of things that I have a hard time starting and following through on.
No comments yet.