I’m writing a book.  A cautionary tale.  It won’t be finished until the final chapters play out.  Not sure of the format yet.  Not sure it’ll be a novel or a business book.  But in order for it to be effective, it needs to be engaging.

It’s been said that publicly stating a goal will lower the chances of achieving that goal.  I’ll try to defy the odds here.

If you’ve been reading my posts, you can guess what it’ll be based on.

Speaking of which, I think it’s time to expand on my bulleted list back in late November about returning to development after spending time in management.  It seems to have touched a nerve. I’ll start on that for my next post.

But before I dive into the topic, I do want to apologize for a couple of things.  First of all, in my related post about the re-education of a software developer, I expressed my interest in blogging about my journey with some basic technical articles, but I only posted one.  It turns out that it’s much more difficult than I anticipated, for a couple of reasons.  First, I struggle with posting articles if I don’t feel completely comfortable about my knowledge of a subject.  Many people have stressed to me that sharing any part of my experiences would still be of value, but it’s a barrier I haven’t been able to get myself around as of yet.  You may see one or two tweets here and there, but no articles for now.

Secondly, although most of the feedback about the podcast episode I was interviewed for was positive, there were one or two comments that made me realize I did come off more whiny than I intended.  Maybe my book will convey the emotions and reasons why it could be seen as whiny.  Especially to someone who doesn’t share my experiences.  Understandable for someone who can’t relate.

As far as my continuing saga goes, I have taken the leap, and I’m now consulting for two clients. I’ve been spending 90+% actually in the code, and loving it. My fears of losing the use of that part of my brain seem unfounded. It appears that all I needed was the total freedom from my old role to get back into it.

I have noticed that now that I’m coding again, I’ve tweeted a lot less. Perhaps tweeting was an outlet while stuck in my rut. Perhaps it’s because coding requires a lot more focus, and I haven’t yet figured out how to take advantage of scheduled breaks. Maybe it’s time to try the pomodoro technique.

I do plan on documenting coding tips and related topics more often, but most of them will be on my Tumblr mini-blog site.

And check back here soon for my expanded posts on the topic of moving back into development.