And, the last issue of the newsletter with tons of fun stats about the first draft:https://www.getrevue.co/profile/shift-happens/issues/320k-ought-to-be-enough-for-anybody-84303 …
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(Also, it’s really fun to say “my manuscript.” Someone just reminded me that’s the right word to use.)
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The funniest/most embarrassing mistake I found in my book so far: writing “Scott Glenn” (the actor famous for portraying an astronaut in the movie The Right Stuff) when I meant to write “David Scott,” the, you know, actual Moon-landing astronaut.
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A little over two years ago, I decided to try giving a 5-minute Ignite talk about keyboards, to see if there is any interest in people hearing these stories – and if I’m any good at it. It was sort of a trial balloon. It went well. (You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDQyR2niiXc …)
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This month, I gave a 40-minute talk that was just basically *one chapter of my book,* and it went… even better. And that makes me excited. There are clearly so many stories here, and it is possible to share them in interesting ways.
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Also, yes, I read the first draft! It was a rather unusual experience. It was at times really hard, and at times very delightful. It felt simultaneously old and new. I knew all of what I read (by definition), but I also *learned* some new things from it – from my own writing!
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The beginning was really rough and made me worried, but things picked up after that. (The ending felt amazing and made me really happy. They were both written on the same day. Go figure.)
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Funny thing: I used some words I forgot since, and I had to look up! (Example: “sash.”)
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Funny thing, also: It’s fascinating to read a book and be able to *rewrite parts you don’t like* while doing it. Or, leave a TK. I left tons of TKs in all caps; here’s an abridged list out of context (and an example in context, in case you’re curious).pic.twitter.com/G6Er4k3K2q
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Funny thing, once more: You could have a drinking game with my cavalier use of the crutch word “simply.” I repeated that word 280 times throughout the book – present in every chapter but one, with a record *nineteen* appearances in the chapter about RSI.
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Good news, though: The chapters I wrote later in the process were so much better. That means, I think, I’m becoming better at this, right…?
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Next stops? Need to rewrite a bunch of things towards the second manuscript, including the beginning. (I have tons of TKs inside, and notes outside.) Then, show it to more people.pic.twitter.com/Oq4w1KxZIN
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These icons make sense to me today. But I’m pretty sure that won’t be the case tomorrow.pic.twitter.com/mppnZ4Uj6y
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On a completely unrelated thread, someone just showed me this fascinating keyboard I’ve never heard of. I believe that at this point in my life EVERYTHING WILL SOONER OR LATER CONNECT TO KEYBOARDS.https://twitter.com/AJKandy/status/995017378789441536 …
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Case in point: I just plotted a drive to a park I had bookmarked for years. I zoom in to see where the Google Maps route drops me off and I see… a keyboard maker. 0_Opic.twitter.com/LAlpwTRlZO
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I just randomly stumbled upon photos of trial title slides for the first talk I ever gave about keyboards, internally at Medium in 2014. (The last one was what I went with.)pic.twitter.com/HMjFLpUdh5
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…which nicely dovetails into something a friend just sent to me, which is *holy crap amazing* and one more great reason to finish the book. (Not that I already don’t have a few…)pic.twitter.com/mG6D9XPjGn
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Unexpected part of writing the book: testing different microphones for recording my voice and also the sound of keystrokes.pic.twitter.com/nidYz6knHG
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Rewrote the opening chapter today, and then played a bit with Blender to see if I can render a nice key. Still a lot of improvements to be made, but could be an interesting visual option.pic.twitter.com/BxcqF32ua5
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Okay, something amazing just happened. I peeked into one chapter to check something – the one about teletypes and terminals – started reading it and… couldn’t put it down. I couldn’t put down my own book!
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(This is… not a familiar feeling, or something I really know how to even wrap my head around.)
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Finished the second draft! Rewrote the opening and the ending, rearranged the most confusing things, cleaned up tons of small challenging bits. This is the first version of the book I’d be happy to show to people in its entirety.
pic.twitter.com/tdRh9WO4Pp
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Unexpected benefit of writing a book – creating an RTF to HTML converter. (I’m not sarcastic. I’ve always been curious. What a weird format it’s been so far.)pic.twitter.com/XUR6CUdS2w
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This might seem like the most ridiculous manual approach, but this way I will know exactly which special characters are in the book – and be ready to make sure they’re eventually typeset properly. Also, fun to see a good ol’ manicule right next to the only emoji in my book.pic.twitter.com/1FIWagg5AM
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I was recently on
@mathowie’s awesome podcast Hobby Horse, talking about Pac-Man, the Phelan Building, Medium, and – chiefly – the sequence of events that led to the keyboard book, and where am I with it today. https://twitter.com/mathowie/status/1005621336738152449?s=21 …This Tweet is unavailable.Show this thread -
The project’s become difficult again – so it goes – and America is breaking my heart, so this milestone feels hollow, and yet: For the first time, I sent the book in its entirety for someone to read and give me feedback. Egads!
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Also, I made this modern web reading environment for it, and it was exciting to see the book in a different livery for the first time. I’ve so far only known it in Scrivener, typeset in Tisa Pro… but here it is in the beloved Mercury Text (and some Maison Neue strewn around).pic.twitter.com/Zma1RSFTRb
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(I also set up my first virtual server and wrote my first Node server app in the process, which was a classic “use something you have to do as an excuse to learn something new” scenario.)
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Also, this numero is so, so gorgeous. I like that its presence tells a story: there in all the early chapters, talking about typewriters like Remington №2 and Underwood №5; gone later, since we stopped using it. But tell me that “iPhone №10” doesn’t have a nice ring to it.pic.twitter.com/eJ3CAD9QkC
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Discouraging to send an editor specific documents saying why there is no book like this one, and comparing it to all the existing books about typewriters… only to hear her say “I took a look at Amazon, there are a million books that try to do the same thing.” *A million books.*
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