Getting Started

Still waiting the contracts, but that shouldn't be long now I hope.

Well Ive made a start on the book...now hold on before you tell me off because my last post said I wouldnt start writing until I had a contract turn up!...Ive only been doing little bits and bobs.

Mainly getting the easy stuff out of the way to pave the way to easier writing of the chapters when the contract does turn up. There are alot of permissions to get signed off before the real work can be done, where I actually write some of the book.

So the dedication, acknowledgements and forword are all done! In terms of writing "Nothing" because its hardley anything. But for me to know who to put in the acknowledgements means i'm making some good progress on who is going to help me on the project. It is certainly difficult to write a whole computer book on your own without some form of help, and this project is no different. Of course i will be writing 99.9% of the text, I still need many other forms of help. Especially with the looming deadlines :D

Talking of deadlines we are looking at something like:

May 15th for half the manuscript
July 20th for full manuscript

As you might be able to work out, the second half has less time than the first half. Unfortunately the second half is usually the harder part [gulp].

Reason the second part of the book is harder is because I personally try and get some of the easier chapters out of the way as quickly as possible. The real difficult ones come towards the end of the book writing process (this is so I can make good progress and hit the half manuscript deadline). Also you find that you dont want to spend a week doing research and not have written anything at the start, you just want to get into it and start knocking the page count down.

Ive printed off my calendar, so I can keep a track of page counts (always a fun game you can play when writing). I also know that I need to be writing around 15 book pages a week to be on target for the first deadline. Thats not too bad, and it doesnt sound it when you have a real easy chapter to write (luckily i probably have about 6 chapters that should hit around 30 pages each)..but some chapters might only come in at about 3 or 4 pages each...now they are hardones to write and get right!

When do i really expect to get started on the real process of writing? Well not until the end of next week (March 4th and 5th). I might start to pad out some of the harder chapters with ideas and basic text to make it easier, because I cant do some of the major work until i have some graphics and code.

Anyway, work to do, permissions forms to write. See you next time, when i hope to actually have done some real work!

Jason

Verbal Confirmation

Ok so things have moved on since I got to level 10 in Warcraft ;)

Ive had email confirmation that the second computer book I am hoping to write, the TOC (Table of Contents) has been accepted. Now this is only email confirmation, and until I find a set of contracts delivered to my door I wont actually start anything. I guess this has it's problems as well as it's benefits. For example, Ive had this idea for a couple of months, and I could have probably written 3-4 chapters by now if I had started in anticipation of the book being agreed. This would save alot of time and mean that I am well ahead of whats expected. BUT the downside is that I did not know that they would agree it, and so you could spend many a weekend writing for writing sake and not actually have done it for any benefit (it would have been a waste of my time).

I guess this is one of my problems, I cannot actually start something like this until I am 100% certain its going ahead. So email wise Ive got confirmation, but until I get written contracts, I will start to get my permissions on track but I wont actually write a word of the new book.

Ive been told the contract documents will be created this week, and I have to be careful to get ready to begin writing because I dont want to miss a step if it is agreed. The timescale Ive agreed is going to be tight, and there are two chapters in the book which will need alot of research before I can write about it (its not the subject thats the problem but the actual facts to make sure its correct).

So should I begin or should I not, that is the question. I wonder if other authors have these thoughts and issues? I am sure I am not the only one out there who works like this.

Im going to have to get ready for what is going to be a rough 6 months, not only from writing the book, but I have alot of other business related things going on, and a full time job. I think I'm not really happy unless I'm under a bit of pressure and a tight deadline.

Will post again in the next few days, and let you know if I've actually started anything or just sitting at my computer contemplating doing some work.

Sooner or Later!

After a delay of a couple of weeks, and having chased again, Ive got semi confirmation that the second book is a - go! Im not upset about the delay, in fact its good timing as I had alot to do over the last month. I also dont blame the publisher, as it must be difficult keeping track of all the "possible" projects, not forgetting the many requests they must get. As mentioned in the past few posts, patience is a very useful skill to try and practice as you will definately need it for writing a book. Anyway it gave me the chance of getting upto level 10 on World of Warcraft. :)

So now i've been advised that the book is effectively been approved what happens next you might be asking?

First Ive stated to the publisher that the book will be complete at the end of August. That is going to be a tight deadline, but the first book was hardwork, and took about 8-10 months in all. There were problems with delivery of certain key aspects of the book especially the games. This led to weeks where I wasnt working. I also struggled at times and I think now I've learnt a few things that it should be straightforward (fingers crossed) to breeze though it.

Well its time to start planning out the work and what i need to do, just some of the things that will need to be progressed before any serious chapters can be created:

Permissions - any images, websites, quotes or content will need written approval before the book can go to the publishers.
Software - This is in hand, and I already have this ready.
Book Games - Will need to source a graphic Artist (have one in mind who is A+)

So you can guess from some of my comments, my second book is all about games again ;) but thats all i can reveal for the moment.

I have started the permissions process, and will start the graphics creation in about two weeks time (it will take alittle managing and cost some money). Some of the games will take very little graphic work and will mean the Chapters will be very quick to write.

Thats all for now, will be back in a couple of weeks to let you know how Im getting on. I don't expect that I will reveal the project details for a couple of months. But you will hear it here first.

Thanks

Jason