OK, now I remember why I don't write for a living.

Actually, that's selling the process short, and I really shouldn't do that. Today is the first day I've really been able to focus on writing on the book, but that hasn't come without its distractions. Like e-mail. The dogs. The cats. The air. The UPS truck that hasn't arrived yet. The customers. The marketing. The internet. The fact that I didn't mention in my post announcing the book deal that the book title will be Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 SP1 Unleashed.

What I really mean is now I remember what my least favorite part of the writing process is: getting started. Developing the pattern that will become my life for the next 3 months. Focusing in on tuning out the distraction. Getting into the writing zone and staying there.

Yeah, I'll get there, but this is my least favorite part of the process. At least this time, I'll have large blocks of time to write that aren't on the weekend, which will make my wife very happy.

So here's the breakdown: I've got 65 days left to write around 1000 pages, not counting weekends. That comes out to about 15 pages/day to meet the deadline. That's not too bad, actually. Plus, I'm already farming out a couple of chapters at least to other authors, so that will cut down on the average output needed as well. Then when you consider that I'm a big fan of picture books, well, that reduces my word count even further.

So, here's to book progress! And keeping my sanity in the meantime!