I take some small bit of comfort in the fact that the next time someone asks me to write a book about something I work on in my spare time I will at the very least know enough to say no.
Not that I don't appreciate having been given this opportunity, but as chromatic has said in the past, writing a book is something that is nice to have done, as opposed to something that is actually enjoyable to do.
(I am no doubt horribly screwing up what he actually said, but the sentiment is the same.)
Since I started writing this book, it has impacted my life in (at least) the following ways:
- Kept me from spending time with people I care about.
- Kept me from actually working on the software the book is about, something I used to enjoy doing in my spare time.
- Conveniently divided my "free time" into time during which I work on the book and time during which I feel guilty about not working on the book.
- Made me question my actual writing ability on numerous occasions.
- Kept me from working on a variety of other interesting projects, most of which I have likely forgotten, and will not remember when I do actually find some free time.
- Kept me from reading anything of substance in months.
It goes without saying that I am looking forward to finishing this damn thing just a little bit...
