Recovered from the Wayback Machine.
I thought it was serendipitous to read this cricket match coverage pointed to by Michael O’Connor Clarke. How refreshing to see a writer going over the edge. Live.. And to do it with such panache, too.
The serendipity enters because I can identify, strongly, with the writer. I can barely finish editing the RDF book being so completely burned out as a technical writier. It happens to us sometimes: we meet that book that takes everything out of us and leaves us drained. Usually at this point we head off into the wilderness – to the Technical Writer graveyard.
I began the first chapter of the book with the parable about the elephant and the blind wise men. I compared RDF to the elephant and all those interested in RDF as the blind men, each feeling a different part of the specification, each describing a different creature from their limited perceptions. However, my job in the book is to take each of these men and guide them all around the elephant until their completely different views agree.
Did I happen to mention that these men spit and kick?
Seriously, I’m not sure if it was all the re-writes, or all the disparate suggestions, or the sheer difficulty trying to find a simple way expressing a complex theory, but I reached my limit, and my days of writing technology are over. I can feel it. This book is my swan song in the tech book biz. Mu opus. After 14 or so books, I’ve tech talked enough.
Another bit of serendipity: I also read in AKMA’s weblog about a request for a Trackback for Dummies. Six months ago I would have jumped at this. Taking a complex subject and making it understandable to a mass audience, without talking down to the folks, now that’s an interesting challenge. I would have felt up for it. Six months ago, I was prime.
Now, the thought of trying to write anything like this makes me physically feel ill. I hope someone writes this. Someone will. But not me.
I imagine after this, all of the technical weblogs that have linked to me will remove their links. No more RDF. No more RSS. Not even a hint of weblogging technology. I am a sad disappointment.
Guess I’ll just have to settle for writing about life, instead. Sans royalties.