David Spurrett

I saw a cartoon by P.C. Vey recently. A woman is walking into a back yard and asking “How’s your book coming?”. She is walking towards a man standing at a barbecue, so you don’t immediately notice that what he is cooking (or about to burn) actually is a book. The way I read it, the guy is supposed to be writing a book, and it isn’t going well. (I don’t have permission to use the cartoon, but you can see it here.)

My book is going much better than that, and I’m having fun with it. It has six chapters and the first five of them have been read by thoughtful and demanding colleagues and friends. Some of them have even been read by students, because the working chapters were included in courses taught at two institutions. (After asking me, and with my enthusiastic agreement. I also got to join the students over an audio-visual link in each case.) The feedback, friction and suggestions have been incredibly useful, and are still coming in.

Those first five chapters have been revised a few times a piece, and I’m pretty happy with all of them. (OK, not one – it’s too long, but I know what needs to get taken out.) The final one is taking shape, and I’ve got two opportunities to give talks on material in that chapter in the month of March. (One has happened, one is upcoming.)

In a world where I could give this my full attention in working hours, I reckon I could wrap things up in about three weeks. Here in reality I’m looking at two or three times that long, but will still have a final text fit to pester my possible editor with by the middle of the year.