As it Once Was, I am Writing a Book

    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.

    #1 Silverlight 2 Book Cover Mock Up on 5.14.2008 at 3:08 PM

    Here is the mock up of my upcoming Silverlight 2 book that I mentioned earlier today . The title is still



    #2 Silverlight 2 Book Cover Mock Up on 5.14.2008 at 4:02 PM

    Here is the mock up of my upcoming Silverlight 2 book that I mentioned earlier today . The title is still



    #3 Papa to write Silverlight2 book on 5.16.2008 at 1:38 PM

    Papa to write Silverlight2 book



    #4 Silverlight Consuming REST Services on 5.16.2008 at 4:45 PM

    I just finished writing the first draft of a sample I am including in my upcoming book tentatively titled



    #5 Silverlight Consuming REST Services on 5.16.2008 at 6:03 PM

    I just finished writing the first draft of a sample I am including in my upcoming book tentatively titled



    #6 John Papa announces: Data Access with Silverlight 2 book on 5.20.2008 at 8:44 AM

    John Papa has signed up with O'Reilly to write a book about Data Access with Silverlight. Read more



    #7 Tweener Weekend at TechEd on 5.21.2008 at 12:05 PM

    You probably heard that this year Tech Ed will be 2 weeks long. This leaves a weekend (June 7th and June 8th) in between where there will be a lot of people hanging around. Fortunately there are a lot of events in the area already scheduled and raring



    #8 My Book Has a Life of its Own on 6.29.2008 at 10:52 PM

    I set out to write a book on data access, services, and Silverlight 2 and stick to those topics faithfully. I have a sticky note on my desk that shows the main topics and the word “thin” as a reminder to myself to stick to the point and keep the book