JohnPapa.net

As it Once Was, I am Writing a Book

Wednesday, May 14 2008

It is 3 am and I am learning the subtle balance of typing with one hand while swaying and comforting  my new born child in the other. She was up late crying ... a lot. She had colic. So we took turns staying up with her to comfort her. The problem was I also had a book to finish.

It has been years since I last wrote any part of a book. I authored or co-authored 8 books on cool topics including SQL Server, ADO, and XML back in the late 90's and early 2000's. Then something happened ... something wonderful. 3 times. I had a child, and another, and another. Suddenly the massive amounts of time I was dedicating to writing books morphed into a blissful parenting experience. I still enjoyed writing so I hit the articles hard writing more than 70 articles over the past 7 years and I spoke at several conferences.

My kids aren't full grown but I've recently had an urge to get a book out. I've been deep into the new data access technologies since they were announced. I've been working hard at making practical Silverlight 2 applications that are more about how to implement Silverlight 2 in line of business applications as opposed to just making pretty circles bounce on a screen (though that is cool too). A few weeks later my book idea is refined and on its way to being written and on the shelves. I expect it to be out in November of this year.

I expect my next few months are now going to be full of work, writing a book and family time ... basically eliminating all sleep. Just like it used to be. At least this time I can use 2 hands to type.