I've been writing a book for Sams ("Teach Yourself SharePoint 2007 in 24 Hours") which has an ISBN number (and a listing in my own list of SharePoint 2007 books here

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/V%20Books.aspx)

but which is not listed yet (even pre-Order) at Amazon US.

Writing a book and attempting to keep updating the WSS FAQ sites and not being a stranger to the SharePoint newsgroups and forums is taking up most of my time these days which is one good reason for keeping the number of blogs down.

The other reason you may think is not a good reason.

While testing for and writing book sections I often come across things that it would make suitable content for a blog. But at the same time a lot of these things are things which may only be in *my* book and with so many other SharePoint books out there already I need those "only in my book" sections to have any chance of people chosing to buy it.

So sorry, no technical blogs at least until I've finished; handed it over; and the book is on the verge of becoming available to buy.

What I decided, however, that I could do is a quick outline about how this process went and how it's affecting my life.

I was approached to do the book so hadn't done any of the usual things such as preparing an outline of the book and a justification for it which is what you need to do if *you* approach a publisher.

(I've seen that sort of thing several times in the past when I've been asked to comment on them by a publisher)

Not having done that meant I had no outline for the book on hand so the first thing the publisher wanted from me was a proposed list of chapters.

This seemed like putting the cart before the horse as I didn't think I'd be able to write a Table of Contents until I'd written a good bit of the book, but they insisted and so I managed to find 24 chapter titles. (The "24 Hours" series is actually 24 separate chapters with each one containing (theoretically) an Hour of instruction/information).

Well let me tell you that these publishers knew what they were doing because, even though some Hours have become 2 or even 3 Hours and some have vanished or been merged, having that table of contents has become a blessing when actually writing the book.

The other thing to tell you is that all the dedications you read that say something like "thanks to my wife and kids for putting up with me for the six months it took me to write this book" are truly justified.

Maybe it's because it's my first book (the single chapter for the RealWorld SharePoint 2007 book doesn't count) but it's never far from my thoughts and I'm working in my head through what to say in the next chapter almost all the time it would otherwise be empty (bus journeys to work for instance) or what's worse when sitting at the lunch table with my wife.

I'm also completely aware when I am not writing it that I am "taking time off" although the obligatory walk in the woods to get needed exercise between testing/writing sessions doesn't qualify for that quite as much as sitting down and reading a (non-Computer) book does.

So the book is progressing well even though I always thinking that the next but one chapter (the one that hasn't been processed by my bus-travelling brain yet) will be a struggle and will be impossible to fill 20 pages with. So far, in fact, the problem has been more that of keeping the chapters/hours down to 20 pages.

(Luckily I don't have the kids problem - he's 34 and naturally lives elsewhere - and my wife has been nice enough to give me priority for the desktop computer (which is the only place that has a suitable chair and desk and keyboard to write a book at and space for the portable running the VM of WSS 3.0), but only for the time of writing the book, after that I'll be back to the portable(s)) on the sofa.

Anyway that's it for quite a while. Back to the grindstone.

Meanwhile just a couple of hints.

The book will be almost entirely for WSS 3.0 users/administrators/designers even though it occasionally may note if MOSS 2007 does something differently.

It will also be a book that covers a wider spectrum than most of its size and will thus save space for that extra content by going  into the parameters that I find most useful rather than like some books that are already out there going painstakingly through every single option.

In other words it's (so far at least - there's still quite a bit to go) a book I'd like to read.

Pity there are no good jokes.

P.S. Now (2 days later) it IS listed at Amazon US - none of the others yet and for the moment the listing at Amazon US is still full price (29.95) rather than the 19.95 or 24.95 I expect to see there soon). Don't forget the 5% discount on the lowest price between now and the date of availability if ordered early. Mind you November 2008 IS a long time to wait - I hope something can be done to improve that.)