Help shape the new book "Agile in the Bloodstream"
And Now We're Editing
Well, the long, long process of writing the initial draft is completed. And it's a mess, if I say so myself.
My policy while writing was to use the manuscript to contain the sections that I was considering putting in the book, as well as any notes along the way of ideas I had while trying to get to sleep, or conversations with Hong, or random thoughts throughout the day.
Plus, each chapter got organized and reorganized without actually deleting anything. (Didn't want to lose that idea, y'know?)
So now it is time to edit it down. I have no illusions that this will be a much smaller book than the 173,698 words it now contains. That is a very good thing, because 173,698 translates to at least 430 pages, and that is much too thick for most people to want to buy. I'd like to finish with a book that is between 250 and 300 pages.
We are also trying to reorganize the chapters. What I've realized is the chapter headings we have now are not very practical-sounding. Our chapters should read more like "How to solve problem X," "How to solve situation Y." Right now they read like "Rethinking X" and "Rethinking Y." Again, from a sales perspective, we need more practical-sounding chapter titles.
Once we figure out some new chapter titles I'll feed them back to you to see what you think.
And if you haven't noticed, my kitchen is filling up with post-it notes. See the results of Round 1, Round 2 and Round 3.
How long will this take? Who knows? Hong is coming over on Sunday and Gene Johnson is also helping us with some of these editing tasks. I'm hoping we can get through the bulk of it in 2-3 weeks.
My policy while writing was to use the manuscript to contain the sections that I was considering putting in the book, as well as any notes along the way of ideas I had while trying to get to sleep, or conversations with Hong, or random thoughts throughout the day.
Plus, each chapter got organized and reorganized without actually deleting anything. (Didn't want to lose that idea, y'know?)
So now it is time to edit it down. I have no illusions that this will be a much smaller book than the 173,698 words it now contains. That is a very good thing, because 173,698 translates to at least 430 pages, and that is much too thick for most people to want to buy. I'd like to finish with a book that is between 250 and 300 pages.
We are also trying to reorganize the chapters. What I've realized is the chapter headings we have now are not very practical-sounding. Our chapters should read more like "How to solve problem X," "How to solve situation Y." Right now they read like "Rethinking X" and "Rethinking Y." Again, from a sales perspective, we need more practical-sounding chapter titles.
Once we figure out some new chapter titles I'll feed them back to you to see what you think.
And if you haven't noticed, my kitchen is filling up with post-it notes. See the results of Round 1, Round 2 and Round 3.
How long will this take? Who knows? Hong is coming over on Sunday and Gene Johnson is also helping us with some of these editing tasks. I'm hoping we can get through the bulk of it in 2-3 weeks.
Add a Comment
About
Badge
© 2009 Created by Daryl Kulak on Ning. Create a Ning Network!
You need to be a member of Agile in the Bloodstream to add comments!
Join this Ning Network