I have just turned in the last chapters of my book on Windows Vista. I’m not elated or even relieved, but I am reasonably happy and proud of the intense concentration I put into this project over the past two months, which seem to have flown by. I wrote over 100,000 words and took over 200 screen captures. In the process, I installed at least 4 Builds (versions) more than a dozen times.

Which is not to say I’m done, just at the end of a big phase. Now, I begin “author review,” in which I’ll graciously accept the comments of two or more editors. Of course, I’ve already worked with the best editor — Mer has read every word and contributed considerably to the book.

In this final phase, I also have to compare my text and figures to the latest build, Release Candidate 2. I want to be as current as possible, though the final version — the RTM (Release to Manufacture) — comes right around my deadline.

Three weeks from now, I can return to the blogosphere and ignoring the clock and calendar a little bit. mjh

My deadline for the final quarter of the book is a week from tomorrow. “Quarter” isn’t quite right — I may only have 3 chapters — but this will end the major phase of the book. I don’t really know how demanding AR (Author Review) will be. I’m certain I have lots of changes to the earliest chapters. My appreciation for Vista keeps growing (for the most part, though flaws are obvious).

I installed the latest build on my Tablet PC with some hesitation, but it has worked well and revealed quite a few features a desktop user doesn’t even get a hint of. I had been using my Tablet as a laptop since I started the book. It was FUN to sit on the sofa with the Tablet in my lap, racing through screens with the tap of my pen. This is a great way to interact with a computer. Of course, all the joy can run out the moment you need a keyboard — which is inevitable. mjh

This week, working on the book, I had alternating periods of productivity and backsliding as I cut out some of the text I had written. Early in the week, I struggled with a chapter on computer utilities. I want this book to be practical and I don’t regard many of Windows’ utilities practical for my needs. But I recognize that some of those utilities are very important among people supporting other users, especially on a network. I risk disappointing the more technical reader either by leaving out some tools or putting them in with a caveat to the more general reader, whom I risk insulting by suggesting this may be “more than you need.” But, hell, there are things here that I’ve never, ever needed.

On the other hand, I had great fun with the Photo Gallery chapter. This new application contains many cool features for working with photographs, as well as some maddening inconsistencies between it and other applications.

Next week, another dreadline, er, deadline. mjh

I am technically halfway through the book. Never mind that I may be 2/3rds of the way through the content that I can see writing. This past quarter I wrote more words in less time, producing longer and, I hope, more useful chapters, even splitting a couple of those chapters into new ones. I may have hit my stride this past week.

Certainly, this deadline was very different. I seemed to be done a day early. I took part of Friday afternoon off — the very day of my deadline. But then I got the latest version of Vista — Release Candidate 1. I had to check the chapters I was preparing to turn in with the latest version to make sure nothing significant had change (a few screenshots needed updating). So, I ended up beating the old deadline by just an hour or so, but it was still a better experience.

The hallucinations have been interesting. Mostly little movements out of the corner of my eyes; occasionally, odd sounds from behind me; rarely the two together. Of course, the cockroach on my coffee filters and the spider hanging from the kitchen light were real — I think. At least, Merri saw the spider, too.

I can’t seem to focus my eyes the first time I look at my screen each morning (any of my 3 screens). My hips hurt terribly only one day this week, but I can produce an interesting popping sound from both shoulders just by shrugging. After hours typing on the laptop, my old desktop keyboard feels weird and hard to navigate.

I can’t precisely sum up the time spent on the book. I’m at work on in before 9am most days and stop close to 9pm, but I’m not engaged in the project all 12 hours. On the other hand, I’m thinking about it 23 hours a day. I’m trying hard not to talk about it all the time, but other subjects come slowly to mind. But then, I’m not actually talking to anyone but Merri, who is my first and best editor, toiling through my first drafts.

I bought a new 500GB hard drive during my break on Friday — and thought back to my first hard drive, a used 200MB drive that cost $600 ($3 per MB vs 50 cents per GB). I have 6 or 7 versions of Vista installed at this point. And, I’m deeper in the hole, though the hardware purchases are half of what I’ve lost by turning down classes. So far, one of my colleagues has made more money on the book than I have by teaching the classes I can’t. (But that’s really just whining — I’ll come out way ahead next year.)

Just a little work today, then volleyball and the Simpson’s season premiere. Then, back to work tomorrow morning (it’s getting harder to get up at 6:20am — it’s dark!). See you next week. mjh

I’ve been working long days on the book. In some respects, it is going quite well as I discover there is more and more I can say about various features. I hope the book is full of good, practical suggestions and information as well as some observations and insights.

On the other hand, there is always more to say than time to say it. I got derailed most of a day by an update to the beta. UNM Continuing Education has been providing me with those updates — thanks, Tim! But, whatever time a normal installation should take is magnified by my need to examine it very closely for changes and then to go back through to see if the update has obviated earlier documentation.

That has happened more than once. For example, there is a very new function called Contacts which is a folder full of files that acts as an address book, where each file is a record for one contact. There are some very cool things in this and I believe I had an epiphany that is useful to pass on. For that, you’ll have to buy the book, but here I’ll say that I also wrote up a tip to make up for a curious failing of Contacts — you had to add yourself to the Contacts, which started out empty (in spite of the fact that it is always easier to modify than to create). That was so until the no-longer-latest build of Windows Vista, at which point Vista smartly makes a record of you for you. Yank — out comes the tip. I feel like Sisyphus pushing a PC up the hill again. mjh

PS: it was on Thursday that I realized August had flown by and that I only leave the house to walk the dog or do something for the book. My two pets.

PPS: here’s a little something on Vista that won’t make it in the book.

Friday night, I sent off the first quarter of my Vista book, more than an hour and a half before the midnight deadline. Finishing these chapters was actually harder than I expected, which bodes ill for that final quarter.

I was helped this week by two great writers and editors, cko and MR. They made me very appropriately conscious of my overuse of “stuff,” “things” and “it,” among other placeholders. They did much more than that, improving the text immediately at hand as well as affecting me for the better for the rest of the book.

Now that the book is on its (the book’s) way to two or three more editors, I’m learning to appreciate editors. Mind you, I know I’m not perfect. I’ve read enough of my own writing to see that. I’ve read and re-read something I’ve written, marvelling at the errors I find the third or fourth time, only to continue to miss other errors. It is human nature to see other’s mistakes more easily than our own. That’s why we need editors and indulgent friends (and people who are both).

Still, as I write these words, I’m trying to tell the world something straight from my mind and heart — these are MY words right now. It is rare that MY words hit print exactly the way they seemed inside my head. It is rarer still that I might express myself in a way that both you and I see as really hitting the nail on the head.

And so, there is great pleasure in feeling “I wrote this!” To have someone come after me and say, “You misspelled that,” makes me feel foolish (though it has been happening my whole life). To have someone say, “change that to ‘I wrote this sentence’ and drop the exclamation point,” is, well, it’s … painful. These words are my children and no one has to love them the way I do, but no one should tell me how to tend them.

Can you imagine someone telling Julia Childs, “this soup needs more salt”? If the analogy seems a little too self-important, than how would you feel if someone were to adjust the burner on the stove, stir the rice, change the timer, season the pot for the meal you were cooking? All for the better, right? How could anyone resent that good help in any way? And if your helpmate adds a seasoning you don’t care for or vetoes your favorite vegetable, well, come on, surely that doesn’t bother you! Soon, it’s “here, I’ll cut your steak for you.”

And yet, who wants to read error-ridden, rambling and obtuse self-indulgence? (Besides blog readers.) An editor’s thankless jobs include reminding the author to make the point more clearly, directly and, sometimes, more succinctly. The editor is selflessly improving the work for the benefit of the reader and the writer, who gets the praise for his or her great writing (oh, but you didn’t see the three five ten drafts).

I’m learning to stop thinking of editors as a necessary evil and more as … well, I haven’t found the righter words yet, but I’m working on it. mjh

PS: Mer saw a sign from the Universe this week at God’s House Church, ABQ:

“God always leaves you better than he found you (like an editor).”

Which reminds me for some reason of this line from Junebug:
“God loves you just the way you are but he loves you too much to let you stay that way.”

PPS: Check out this Vista blooper:
PC Training & Consulting Weblog » @!X!^& Media Player in Microsoft Windows Vista

A week has passed since my last book report, as it were. Writing is a little less easy now, in that I’m moving into areas that require more thought and more careful examination of Vista.

I’ve banged my head against a few things and crashed the system once. I’ve also upgraded the hardware again, which wasn’t absolutely essential but helpful.

This week, I finally received documentation on the formatting of the book. It took a while to digest and longer to implement. That kind of busy work is unavoidable but it feels less productive. However, with formatting, what I had written expanded to more pages, so maybe there was tangible reward.

I have my first deadline this coming Friday. I don’t think this one will be so bad. I’ll let you know next Sunday — my silence may be message enough.

Happy week. peace, mjh