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  • From: Tanner Lovelace <lovelace AT wayfarer.org>
  • To: "Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/" <internetworkers AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [internetworkers] Technical writing questions
  • Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 00:23:58 -0400

Maria Winslow wrote:

Writing a book, especially when you have small children, is a stupid idea. It is a long, tedious, and painful project.

There are many "long, tedious, and painful project[s]" when you have small
children. If you paid attention to that fact, though, there'd a lot less
things
to do. That said, I didn't say I wanted to write a book, I was just curious
about the process.

But if you insist on pursuing this crazy idea, then start with articles. You will have a much easier time getting accepted if you have published something before, and it will give you an idea of whether or not you like writing.
Most trade magazines want articles about 2000 words in length. I know you are a Linux guy, so I would recommend specific technical how-to topics, like a tutorial on how to move your Windows fileserver to Linux, or something like that. You should research the types of articles that have appeared in your target magazines over the past year, and look over their editorial calendar for themes that you could contribute to. You can generally find the editorial calendar in the advertising section under "media kit" (so advertisers know what is coming).

Good advice! Thanks very much. I've actually thought more about
writing articles than I have writing books, but book writing was
what was mentioned and what prompted my question.

As far as your suggested topic, aren't you working on a book of that
exact subject? :-) Or rather, general migration from windows to linux?
That actually sounds like it would make a great chapter (or two) in a
book like that.

Cheers,
Tanner
--
Tanner Lovelace | lovelace AT wayfarer.org | http://wtl.wayfarer.org/
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