I've been thinking of writing a book recently and this diagram could well be the inspiration I needed.
I don't read Dare's blog as often as I ought to - he writes beautifully and his recent post on Gone Indie by Jens Alfke is terrific. Okay, I like the title of his post - Change the World or Go Home: Why I Love Working at Microsoft - as it reminds me of a cartoon I know but I also love the venn diagram at the end that he came from Scott Hanselman.
For 10 years I've been right where that arrow lands and my fear is that whilst I could leave and spend more time in the other circles, the place I really want to be is right there in the middle.
I'm now asking myself have I got a book in me and could this be it. Something about being in the centre of those circles and how I've been there for 10 years. Maybe.
PingBack from http://www.alvinashcraft.com/2008/01/16/daily-bits-january-16-2008/
What would you do it on?
I think maybe I could do something along about my experience of working at Microsoft and what I've learned about being in the middle of that diagram - how to stay there, when to know you're shifting in to one zone or another etc. something like that maybe. not sure if people would buy it but regardless would be fun to write.
You might.
Test it ... Mock up a TOC in a post and see how Softies and others respond.
You can try a Stephen King approach -- write it up quickly, shelve it for six months, then see if you still like the ideas. Or, do a Hemmingway and bang away at it each day for two hours (1 hour to edit the day before and 1 hour for creating new)
Although this is a different type of book, it's a rundown of the overall process, which might get you thinking -- http://blogs.msdn.com/jmeier/archive/2007/12/24/building-books-in-patterns-amp-practices.aspx
thanks for the advice J.D. - may well do that TOC thing as a start.