While I'm sure Dan's book is really good, I wish he had shared with us some tidbits of how he actually went from "I want to write about these things" to a publi

While I'm sure Dan's book is really good, I wish he had shared with us some tidbits of how he actually went from "I want to write about these things" to a publishable book. I understand why someone wouldn't want through the traditional route (my wife is in book publishing and I might self-publish within the decade), but there's a whole book preparation process (concept validation? early reviews? someone who could approximate the work of editorial preparation? proof-reading?). Most of the work in making a book is not in the typesetting.