write a book

I’m getting into the thick of researching for my book. I’ve got a week set aside in early November to travel and do interviews. Hotels are booked, I’m getting the car checked out this week, and I’m getting some new gear for recording.

I’m a little behind on my book proposal (I wanted to have two sections done by now), but I think I should be able to knock that out this week.

My general timeline for this book is:

• November: research part 1
• December: finish and start mailing proposal
• January: have a significant chunk written
• March: research part 2
• April: follow-up interviews, loose ends
• June: be done writing first draft (hopefully by this point I’ll have an agent)
• etc.

(I’m purposely vague about details of my book and will continue to be until it’s hitting the press.)

I finally have a idea for a book on a topic that hasn’t been done before (at least not in this way) and is in a subject area that really excites me. Writing the book will involve some travel (outstanding) and would be something I’d be very proud to point to afterwards and say, “I did that.”

Sure, everyone wants to write a book and a lot of people do, but I’m still very excited at the prospect of doing this and look forward to the entire process, no matter how long it takes.

I’ve begun the planning stages, working out exactly what I do (and don’t) want to cover in this book. If all goes according to plan, I should be able to hit the road and start conducting some interviews by the end of this year.

I was asked to write the foreword for a cookbook. That’s sort of a close to writing a book, no?

It’s proving to be a fun challenge, knowing that my text will be the first thing people read when they open the book.

Actually working on two books I’m going to self publish… first, The Book of Ping with Paul and secondly Soft Rains, which will be based on entries I’ve written over the last few years on my site. I’ll be rewriting existing ones and writing new ones as well. Not sure how long it will be yet, but it’ll be a standard paperback (not trade) size.