Thank you Captain Obvious

Writing a book is really hard work.  I knew it was going to be 'hard', because most things worth doing are.  But, seriously, I had no idea.  I sometimes feel like I am just wringing my brain out, I have this visual on the worst days of a spongebob-esque brain being twisted tight until it becomes flacid and useless.  I have asked advice from my friends that have written books and their best advice has been 'buckle down', 'create a routine', or 'just write and go back to edit later'.  I so far, have not followed their advice.  Yes, I have buckled down.  This week will represent the halfway mark for content submission and for the most part I have met all of my deadlines.  But, what I have found is the harder I try the less I am able to produce voluminous works.  I am chugging along, but there is now a pool at work on the date that I will lose my marbles. 

My other consternation is the criticism.  At some point a few weeks ago I had the shocking realization that people may actually read this book.  Gulp.  A little known tidbit about me, I suck at criticism.  I rock at constructive criticism because I am always seeking to improve.  But when it comes in the form of snarky comments made by those that would rather bitch than do anything valuable to contribute, well, that just pisses me off.  A couple of weeks ago I did a webinar for TDWI.  One anonymous attendee felt the need to tweet that it was the worst webinar he had ever attended, yet he attended the whole thing.  That's the same as someone eating all their food at a restaurant and then complaining that it was awful.

So, if you can tell, I have reached full panic/freak-out mode.  I have a favor to ask of you throngs of readers, be gentle on me the next few months.  In all candor, it's going to be a tough row to hoe for the next two months.  Work is very busy and to add fuel to a raging fire, it is now officially Christmastime, my absolute least favorite time of the year (yes, I am a grinch, move on, I have :).  Not only will I need all the support you can give, but so will Karl and Nolan as we push on through crunch time. 
Thank you, and good night