We’ve just gotten back some specific feedback on a few initial chapters from a couple of tech reviewers. We’ve been fortunate to have gotten a great set of tech reviewers for the book. I mean great. I mean lots of smart folks and a couple industry leaders. Wow.
But it’s definitely a bit brusing, especially the comments from one fellow who come across as fairly snarky. Well, OK, his comments aren’t overly snarky, that’s just my bruised ego whining like a puppy that just got its nose smacked with a rolled up paper. It can sometimes be deflating to read feedback on one’s work, but the point to keep in mind is that having Really Smart People point out weak spots in your book is a Really Good Thing.
Your work will be much better for it; you just have to set aside your ego for a bit.
(Actually, that goes for just about anything in your career. Get Really Smart People to give you (hopefully) constructive criticism and you’ll end up doing better work.)
3 comments:
I hope the general consensus wasn't,
"Hey, this is all great except for this section on TortoiseCVS/SVN and this other section on Subtext. Did you hire a third-grader to write that piece of stinking poo?"
No, the phrase was "odious pile of dung," not "piece of stinking poo."
A number of specifics scattered over a number of articles, but a lot of general stuff for James and I to polish up. We're in good shape overall, but are in need of some work to lift it from a good book to a great book.
Glad to hear that the first set of tech reviews didn't immediately have you refusing to contribute any more to the book. :) As an editor and a reviewer, I've had one or two people who couldn't take mild criticism at all. As you say, the whole aim is to make sure that what you write doesn't resemble fecal matter. A good comparison would be test-driven development \ beta testing. It's just that unless you've got a group of newbie tech reviewers, they'll know what to do and where the usual ambiguities of language and code exist.
Keep on with the writing - the day when the booka rrives is definitely worth the current inconvenience to your pride.
Dan
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