in reply to japhy and mystery

Well, I for one would love to see more good material on the subject. If you feel you've got the time, energy, and outline, go for it.

That said, I would seriously think twice (or more) before commiting to a book project until you have several weeks (at least) of free time. College can be extremely demanding (depending on your major) and, unless you're as disciplined as tilly, you may find you have to scrimp the quality of your writing or the quality of your school work. Neither would be desireable.

What I might suggest instead is that you start (if you haven't already) submitting articles to TPJ, perl.com, and other related periodicals. This will expose you to the demands of periodical publishing. While not the same as book publishing, you'll get a sense of the process, the type of people involved, and so on. These could lead to a regular column or just be an infrequent series of related articles.

I like the idea of Perl Puzzles; perhaps that's a good hook to pursue.

Not trying to rain on anyone's parade, just pointing out that you've got a lot on your plate at the moment. Editors are a demanding lot and really don't like it when you blow deadlines. Not that you would, but when faced with choosing between a 30-page paper worth half your grade and finishing the next three chapters in a week, one or the other will suffer. (Been there, done that.)

--f

P.S. And MRE's are, of course, "Meals Ready to Eat" ;-)

Update for tilly: Well, perhaps you should be. ;-)

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Re: japhy and mystery
by TheoPetersen (Priest) on May 07, 2001 at 09:43 UTC
    There may be full-time writers who can finish a book of broad technical scope in several weeks. I don't know any who can afford to write technical books full-time, so I haven't anyone to ask. My own experience is closer to a chapter a month when I can "dedicate" myself, way less when life throws a curve or two. Remember that even if you are writing as an expert on your subject, you'll need research time, editing, diagraming and so on.

    As for that demanding lot of editors, in my experience with Manning everyone has been very supportive through a series of delays with my work. My wife developed pregnancy complications, and those deadlines went wooshing past with barely a wave from me. Maybe I'm lucky to have an editor who has kids :)

      Your experience sounds very similar to mine. I originally signed up to write DMP in 4 months. I actually took more like 15 months - and there were no complaints at all from Manning.

      Writing a book whilst holding down a full-time job is hard.

      --
      <http://www.dave.org.uk>

      "Perl makes the fun jobs fun
      and the boring jobs bearable" - me

Re (tilly) 2: japhy and mystery
by tilly (Archbishop) on May 06, 2001 at 22:07 UTC
    I may be many things, but disciplined is not among them...
      You mean disciplined :)

      signed Larsen, in a severe XP-whoring moment ;)