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Comment by dangus | Hacker News Reader

At risk of sounding like a low-effort critic, I have to say I'm not sure what we're supposed to take away from this post. It's got about zero useful information or interesting insight.

It really does come across as "How not to write a book" but without any sort of...life...to the writing.

I say that with nothing but respect and admiration for what Kent has contributed to the world of software engineering. As for this blog post in isolation, I just can't figure out who would read this blog post and feel it deserved to be shared around.

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I think it's written for other writers. To help communicate the pain and process. It's easy to feel like it's "just you" and everyone else just shits perfect chapters, one per week, and hits publish.

I enjoyed it.

There's an industry of writers providing advice to other writers about writing. Think of it like self-help but for writing.

I used to attend some writers groups, but everyone was always looking for a method that would make writing easy, instead of just writing.

Almost nobody knew what they were talking about. Figuring out what works for you is writing.

Presumably, the people who actually know how to "operationalize" writing, aren't writing self-help books, but rather are managing stables of prolific (if maybe schlocky!) writers.

I would love to hear writing advice from the managing editor of a publisher of pulp serial-fiction books, of the kind where the writers churn out multiple new books per year. Those books might not be the greatest thing ever written, but certainly they're better than failing to ever publish anything.

For that matter, there are series of branded tech books of various sorts that are used by companies for marketing campaigns. They're written by freelancers and are often more successful at their objectives than you would like to know.

I've always been curious how that scene works. It feels like a comfortable place for someone with broad curiosity and an ability to write. Do you have any insights?

That's the joke right? Even if you could tell me exactly what worked for you, it wouldn't work for me.

If there was a formula for success, we would all undertake it.

There is No Silver Bullet.

Hey, maybe someone should write that book.

As in software, as in writing, as in life.

Let's, co-author :)

It seems to me it's to let prospective authors know what they'd be getting into. To provide them with realistic expectations.

The post says "To help you quell the desire to write a book of your own, here are the steps."

I didn't find it so much "How not to write a book" as a description of what writing a book felt like. Maybe there are people who have systematized the writing of a certain type of book to the point where it's just a routine few hours they put in every day. But I think the experiences expressed in this post are more common.

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