Reader Joe Bezdek writes:
Hi Matt.I recently listened to the podcast episode about REWORK (I’m a bit behind) and I noted that you were the person who initially reviewed all the previously published 37signals material and wrangled it all into an initial outline/draft of the book. I was particularly struck by your comment about how intimidating it was to sit down in front of a blank screen knowing the process that lay before you.
I was hoping you might share what tools (applications, web services, etc.) you used along the way to assist you in editing down such a large volume of material into the initial draft. I’m wondering if tools like DEVONthink, OmniOutliner, Writeboard, or something else entirely helped you get it done.
Answer: It was pretty simple. Basically I started throwing any relevant content into a Pages document. Any blog post that had good potential content for REWORK. Any essay from Getting Real that could relate to a non-software business. I transcribed conference keynotes and interviews with JF and DHH and picked out key bits.
Then I started organizing it. I tried to sort content into relevant categories and began shaping it into a recognizable format. Then JF, DHH, and I started teleconferencing and meeting in person in order to edit text. We’d throw out things that didn’t fit. Edited other things so they matched up in tone & voice. Honed it all and kept getting it better, tighter, and more cohesive.
For this, we used Writeboards sometime. We also used iChat and SubEthaEdit to collaborate.
All along we had a master Pages doc that was the book continually iterating into its final shape.
One other note of interest: Our publisher, Crown, would just send a printout of the entire book with notes handwritten in the margins. Old school.
Iterating over time
Joe responded:
Basically I started throwing any relevant content into a Pages document….Then I started organizing it. I tried to sort content into relevant categories and began shaping it into a recognizable format. That was the part I was particularly curious about. It’s one thing to copy blog posts and transcriptions into a Pages document, the challenge is seeing the common themes and organizing that into some kind of narrative that makes sense. Were there any other tools that helped you do that? (Mind maps?) Or did you just become so familiar with the master Pages document that you were able to connect those dots in your head?
My response to that: No other tools. I think it was just time and iterations. Things were a mess at first but we kept refining the doc over and over until it started to become more cohesive. It was just a pruning process. Not sure any tool would’ve made it easier.
Also, I don’t even know how you use a mind map to help you write something. I just start writing. Usually my process is this: Write too much. Edit it down. Repeat if necessary.
Mark Pilrigm on tools and writing
Coincidentally, within a day or two of responding to Joe, I came across this interview with Mark Pilgrim, Developer advocate at Google [via MM]. In it, he discusses the importance, or lack thereof, of tools on the writing process.
I’m a three-time (soon to be four-time) published author. When aspiring authors learn this, they invariably ask what word processor I use. It doesn’t fucking matter! I happen to write in Emacs. I also code in Emacs, which is a nice bonus. Other people write and code in vi. Other people write in Microsoft Word and code in TextMate+ or TextEdit or some fancy web-based collaborative editor like EtherPad or Google Wave. Whatever. Picking the right text editor will not make you a better writer. Writing will make you a better writer. Writing, and editing, and publishing, and listening – really listening – to what people say about your writing. This is the golden age for aspiring writers. We have a worldwide communications and distribution network where you can publish anything you want and – if you can manage to get anybody’s attention – get near-instant feedback. Writers just 20 years ago would have killed for that kind of feedback loop. Killed! And you’re asking me what word processor I use? Just fucking write, then publish, then write some more.
Good point. Don’t let the “Which tools should I use?” question distract you too much. In the end, the strength of your ideas matter way more than the gear you use.
Martin Edic
on 12 Jul 10Great piece. As a writer who did eight conventional books for publishers and who is writing a series of short books for my company, a few things stand out: Mark’s comment about queries regarding what word processor he uses was hilarious. Whatever works. The other one was your comment about the publisher sending a stack of paper with notations. These people are tree killers by nature- look at their offices. They print everything! Structuring a book is an intuitive act that you get better at with practice. I don’t worry too much about structure at the beginning. I’ll just sketch out a list of things I want to cover, write them and then fix the order. Cohesiveness comes with editing, over and over again.
Martin Edic
on 12 Jul 10BTW, always used Word but now use Google Docs. Universal access is a big plus…and it’s the closest thing to Word 5 which was so much better to use than the current beast…
Taisha
on 12 Jul 10I completely agree that the tools you use are less relevant. But as a writer and singer, my #1 tool for mapping out the direction of a project is Backpackit! :-)
For example, an album I just released started out as a backpackit page with the proposed title of the album. I included on the page my to-do-list and online resources to follow up with finding and purchasing beats.
Then the track listing, which is done as a ‘List’.
Album: Live Free Track 1: Intro Track 2: Afraid Track 3: So Cold Track 4: Just Like You Track 5: Change Me Track 6: Fame Track 7: Do What It Do Track 8: Alien Love Track 9: Grounded Me Track 10: Reincarnated Track 11: Live Free
I following that with a ‘Note’ for each song.
The great thing about doing it this way is that I don’t have miscellaneous snippets of ideas here and there. Edits are immediately recorded. And I can simply click and drag things around as needed. It was easy for me to try out different sequencing for the album this way. Cick & drag.
I’m using it the same way with the book I’m writing. Certainly a word program could do the same, but the ability to click and drag chapters or move quotes or graphics that I’ve attached as files into their right position is a huge time saver for me and keeps everything organized so whenever I look at the page for my project, it is in its most perfect form already. Oh when everything was, for the most part organized and written, I just cut & paste the text from backpackit to word. Didn’t take long and I don’t format until the end anyway.
Phil Willis
on 12 Jul 10Great insight.
Lots of people obsess over tools, when ideas are what count.
Do you think if you use the same mixing bowl as Bobby Flay or Jamie Oliver you will be able to cook like them?
No.
Or do you?
Actually a lot of people think that – because that’s why they can sell their brand of saucepans, knives and kitchen gadgets.
Great post guys.
Bob Monsour
on 13 Jul 10I think what is key here is that this is material that the authors are extremely familiar with. They have an innate sense of what fits where and what doesn’t. Same for Mark Pilgrim. He’s writing books about things he knows very well and uses his mind to effectively organize the information that he wants to convey. Then it becomes a matter of writing style, consistency, etc. But, in my opinion, it all starts with knowing your stuff.
James
on 13 Jul 10While I agree with the gist of the article, I think it could be interpreted as saying “tools don’t ever matter, all that matters is what you do with them”, which I don’t agree with. Tool choice can matter in some circumstances.
Programming languages and frameworks are tools, and it’s clear that different ones are suited to different sorts of tasks. There’s assembler, Python, APL, R, C, Rails etc etc – each is best fitted to certain types of task.
The tools you use to ‘write a book’ may not particularly matter, but that’s only because writing a book is the kind of task where that’s the case. But for programming tasks, for example, tool choice does matter. If you’re doing ‘statistical processing’ or ‘writing a web-site’ and you naturally choose the right sort of language/framework for the task.
I think the important thing is to know when tool choice makes a difference and when it doesn’t. If you’re faced with a particular task, which type is it?
This discussion is closed.