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