I give in.
For years, every time a publisher has asked me “so Julie, when are you going to write a book for us?” I had my answer ready. “I’ll do it when you are prepared to give me a $50,000 advance, come to my house weekly to cook dinner and clean the house and also pay for a full year of marriage counseling.” So they finally go the point of my not-really-that-funny joke and stopped asking.
Then Microsoft went and created this thing called Entity Framework which intrigued me… a lot. I played with it and learned plenty about it. I wrote some articles which were extremely frustrating because they have a limitation on how long they can be. I have been speak at conferences and user groups about it for over a year, but can never fit everything I want to say in a 60 or 75 minute slot (finally I’m doing full day sessions at a few conferences!). I have written a gazillion blog posts about it and answered lots of questions in the forums.
But still I wasn’t happy. Entity Framework was leaking out of me and I could not satisfy my need to talk and write about it.
So I finally gave in and talked to a few publishers and said that it was time.
I am now writing a book for O’Reilly called “Programming Entity Framework”. I have actually started writing it already and am hoping to have it in print in October. This gives me a short time frame to write it in since there are about 3 monhts needed for the actual production of the book so it has to be done by then.
Call me crazy. But, really, I was going to self-combust otherwise. I’m so happy having a valid excuse to play with Entity Framework every day now.
There is a much bigger problem though with this. It’s not that my husband and I will probably be eating spaghetti for the next 4 months or the dust bunnies that will be taking over our house.
The problem is that the animal which I really want to have on my cover has been used already for a VBA book (which I have). Of course, that would be a Newfoundland dog. How perfect is a dog? Isn’t data an old faithful friend? And we’re teaching it some new tricks with Entity Framework! Maybe we could have a write-in campaign to convince them to let me have another Newfie!
Anyway, until there is an official cover, I have invented this one for myself:
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Congratulations! There are few jobs in this world that let you hold a finished product in your hands and say "I made this."I was about to give you a list of book-writing advice until I remembered I did a blog entry on that very subject:http://www.charlespetzold.com/blog/2006/07/240338.html
Thank you Charles. I think I’ve heard that one of the other few jobs in this category is parenting,, something I have even less experience with. 🙂 I’m happy to be reminded about your earlier post.
Congrats!And… on that mockup, I won’t buy unless there’s a picture of wally on it.
October, it’s too far, hurry up Julie :p
Congratulations Julie!After giving so much to the VT development community it doesn’t surprise me you felt like you would explode if you didn’t share what you knew.As for the animal for the O’Reilly cover maybe they would let you do a Newfie puppy.
That’s very cool.Will O’Rielly be doing the pre-release download that they do for some of their things (at least I think it is them).I agree, October is too far away.
Woo00tt!!Congrats and good luck.I’m already looking forward to the next time I see you so I can get my copy autographed.From here to October is less than a normal pregnancy, but that’s how my pregnancy went and you know how well that turned out.Just have Rich pretend you’re pregnant and all the dust bunnies and less-than-grandiose dinners will make sense.You’re having a baby!
Hi, I just read your blog. One of the first I’ve ever read. Awhile back I decided to write my story, part of it anyway, since it’s truly a sensational story in itself. I just read your blog and right off the bat, I saw an inescapable grammatical, or spelling error. I won my 6th grade spelling bee, and since then have been a fanatic about spelling and/or grammar if I happen to spot a mistake. I’m sorry. I want to take what you said to heart. Truly. No lie, this was the first blog I’ve read in my life besides the one my brother wanted me to write for. I’m trying not to be discouraged and want to believe that the people I’m looking to for support and encouragement are worthy to give me such. I’ve only had a year of any college experience, with an A+ in my only two subjects, creative writing and art, but I’ve done my own personal writing as well as some for my brother and his business, and feel stunted. I have ambition and want to keep it going. I read a blog like this, for my first time, and was hoped to be inspired. Please let me know if I’m missing the reason why this error was in place, if in fact it’s an error at all. Maybe you meant it to be. I’m eager to write and I’m scared. And if spelling and grammar are too much to handle then maybe I’m worrying about nothing. I don’t mean to be cruel…I just want to know what’s wrong with me if anything. I want to write this book. It needs to be written. It deserves to for the well-being of millions of children, yet I’m unsure as to whether or not it will be taken seriously. Please email me at my email address. Thank you, respectfully.