I'm calling BS on that last statement of hers. I don't intend for this to sound mean. I intend for it to help her (or readers), to be honest with themselves. It WOULD be sad if she wasted all this time on SVG if she really would have rather just been building stuff with SVG. However, that to me doesnt reflect reality; so it shouldn't make her sad. She got to spend time doing what she clearly actually likes doing: technical writing! Theres nothing wrong with that!
No one who actually likes to build stuff would spend so much time on committees, book deals, and technical writing. Thats okay! She should be honest with herself about her preferences.
The positives are that "committees, book deals and technical writing" are very transferable skills to whatever other web technology needs more of this sort of thing.
EDIT: I in no way mean for this to be callous regarding counting pennies. I am sympathetic to the fact that much of her work was unpaid :(