3 ms·
150 hours seems very little for a book. (3 weeks of intense focus) Any idea on how you got to be so efficient? Were there hours hidden in other activities?
by mathattack 13y ago
150 hours seems very little for a book. (3 weeks of intense focus) Any idea on how you got to be so efficient? Were there hours hidden in other activities? Or had you done all the thinking in advance, and it was just putting pen to paper? Or did you just have a very fast routine?
Thanks for sharing your experience, and for your participation in the original article.
- zrail 13y agoThat number is a little bit misleading. First, because it's a rather concise guide (there's only 120 pages), and second, because that time was actually spread out across about double that number of weeks, including weekends. Additionally, it's a topic that's near and dear to my heart so I was pretty familiar with what I wanted to cover. I tried to stick with 500 words per day when I was actively writing and a chapter a day when I was actively editing, but that 150 hours also includes quite a bit of time working on the example application.
- mathattack 13y agoThanks! Even at 120 pages you crammed a lot of information into a short amount of time and pages. I appreciate what you're doing.
- ssttoo 13y agoI've written a few technical books and my personal most optimistic estimate is 1h/page writing first draft and 2hr/page editing. This when I know exactly what I want to say (no more research, code usually done) and have a plan (headings ready, just filling the blanks) But English is not my first language, can't a/b test for this variable. With first drafts I don't stop to edit - just let it out on paper as fast as possible.