I’m Back, Though Technically I Failed

Not too long ago I announced that I was writing my second book, and that would be the reason that I would be radio-silent for a while. Well, as of last night, I have finished writing the first draft of Assholes of History.

Combing through my old text messages (old being relative), I calculated the elapsed time between start and finish. I took me 47 days to write just under 51,000 words. This works out to an average pace of almost 1100 words per day over that span. For context, that is a little more than double what my pace for The Case Against Memes. In my original announcement, I had mentioned that my new pace had been about 800 words per day. For the most part, that pace held up rather consistently. However, we all learned in math class that averages are skewed by outliers, and this project had plenty of them. On some weekend days I would have some 2000-word days. In the last three weeks I began my unemployment (a story for another article), and my pace bumped from about 800 words per day to approximately 1300. For most of the assholes I profiled in my book, there was just so much material that I had at my disposal to use against those I chose to scrutinize, which made planning and writing so much easier.

That’s not to say the ride was easy though. I had a few one-off days that netted only 490 words as I metaphorically smashed my head into the wall, trying to come up with ways to forcefully drive my point home or to expand upon a sub-topic. Fortunately, those instances were few and far between. I’ll admit though, the book became kind of a slog to write in the final two chapters, akin to the fatigue sprinters feel at the end of the 200-meter dash. After all, I hadn’t missed a single day of writing in those 47 days. Most days, I wanted to write; it’s what got me out of bed in the morning and there were some days when I got in 600 words before breakfast as I waited for my daily bowl of oatmeal to cool. However, some days were harder than others but thankfully discipline won out over motivation (a concept that Jocko Willink mentions frequently on his podcast).

Originally, I had the idea for this book before The Case Against Memes launched. I sat on the idea at the time so I could wholly dedicate myself to meeting deadlines regarding my first book. However, after the launch and much-needed trip to Eastern Europe, I continued to sit on the idea. The thought of the amount of research such a project would need made my stomach churn at first. I originally thought it would take at least nine months to write. Fast forward to May and I finally chose to step up to the plate. Finishing the rough draft in this time frame has been a much-needed confidence (ego?) booster as a writer.

Now it’s time to talk about the elephant in the room. I have failed my original goal. In the announcement post, I mentioned my goal of writing 60,000 words. However, I’m roughly 9000 words short. My original plan was to include two more chapters, but I came to realize that I would just be artificially padding out the book in sake of an arbitrary number. After all, I’ve been highly critical of authors who artificially pad their books, and I equally hate it when Square Enix does the same thing to their games. If I were to mindlessly trudge on towards that mark, I wouldn’t have been writing my book anymore but instead I would’ve been just padding for the sake of padding. The final two chapters would have profiled assholes that are much more obscure, and hence that would’ve partially defeated the purpose of the book. Therefore, I quit a nonsensical goal (I pulled 60,000 words out of thin air) to better serve the readers. Or maybe all of you will just say I’m just rationalizing a failure away. Dealer’s choice.

Of course, this doesn’t mean the book is done; far from it. Over the next week or so, I’ll have to go over the rough draft and start self-proofreading it for obvious errors (i.e by instead of be, clear spelling errors, et cetera) before I send it to an editor. From there, the gut-punches truly begin; stances I hold will get challenged, advice to pull punches at certain intervals will inevitably come and my word choice will get absolutely skewered. From there, I’ll have a manuscript that I can truly pitch to publishers. I went out of order the first time (rookie mistake) but I know better this time around.

Speaking of lessons learned, I’ll need to find a graphic designer experienced in designing book covers. As mentioned last time, my friends have not been subtle about letting me know their disdain for my previous book cover. I am partially to blame since I didn’t bring anything to the table (another rookie mistake). I have a pretty clear idea in my head of what I want as well, so this shouldn’t be too hard to get a few concept PDF’s made. Shameless networking plug: If anyone knows of such a graphic designer, feel free to let me know!

Since the all-out sprint is over now, I can go back to writing articles on a regular basis again. There have been some events that have caught my eye during those 47 days but chose to put on the back-burner until I finished the rough draft. Now that the rough draft is done, I plan on expanding upon these events thoroughly in the coming days and weeks. Of course, I’ll keep everyone posted on updates regarding Assholes of History as well.

I hope those pitchforks haven’t rusted in the last 47 days…