I liked the information in Andre's post. Aspiring writers would do well to heed his thoughts on outlining. He also states that writing is the easy part and editing is the hard part, and I completely agree.
I wrote a diary during the almost two years I spent writing and revising a book for Manning Publications. I muse about the trad pub process and my feelings on the great slog that is writing a technical book.
>writing is the easy part and editing is the hard part, and I completely agree.
I don't necessarily disagree but a lot of writing (and often graphics/figures) is needed to fill a typical book. You're looking at say 60 to 70 thousand words for a 250 page book. I write a lot and people think of me as being pretty fast--though I certainly know journalists who are faster--but my typical daily output is about 1,000 words assuming I'm spending most of a day on it. Do the math (especially if it's a part-time thing).
I wrote a diary during the almost two years I spent writing and revising a book for Manning Publications. I muse about the trad pub process and my feelings on the great slog that is writing a technical book.
http://www.gitmol.com/blog/