It’s been a while since I’ve posted, and it’s because I was finishing up a large project. One of the items on my bucket list was to write a book. I started this project before we hit the road in November 2014. It took two years, but I finally finished it and published from our RV in Port Isabel, Texas! The launch was on day 557 of our trip.
Publishing from the road has the same challenges as working from the road. It’s up to you to find the needed tools (ex: a stable internet connection) and to motivate yourself to complete the work, no matter how tempting the scenery is outside your RV door.
Milestones:
What a thrill is was to see my book listed on Amazon and to hold the first printed copy in my own hands! Other top milestones include: receiving the first pre-sale order, the first sale in Australia, the first purchase in British Pounds, the first multiple quantity order, and breaking even on the cost of the project.
Things I learned about writing a book:
- This is not an easy or quick activity. As I mentioned, it took two years from the day I wrote the outline to the day it was available for purchase. I thought it would take 6 months! It took many days of writing before work, writing after work, and sometimes, writing before AND after work. I made hundreds of versions and I likely read all 296 pages 30 times!
- Many skills are required like: writing, editing for content, editing for language, layout design, graphic design, web design, marketing, ecommerce, research, organization, and persistence. I folded this project into an existing business, but the project itself could be its own small business.
- The hardest part wasn’t the technical writing. I LOVE talking about JIRA; that part was easy! The hardest part was the countless hours spent fighting with the Table of Contents and Index functions of Microsoft Word! I don’t wish that activity on anyone.
- Your writing will improve. For example, I learned I use parenthesis too often! (You don’t see any parenthesis in this article, right? Oops.) Now I’m using less and trying to avoid passive voice.
Special thanks:
I had help completing this project. Kayak Chris answered all my book publishing questions, my Mom flagged all my writing and layout errors, five of my friends, who are fellow JIRA Administrators, reviewed the content, and another friend provided professional editing services. Even my cat Lynx participated. He caused this featured mistake:
The writing and publishing experience was well worth the effort. My motivation was to save people from the mistakes I made and help them fix common application problems. Now I’m excited for the next step: to market the information, give presentations, help others, and participate in new opportunities.
What bucket list items did you complete in 2016?
About the book:
This book is for administrators of the Atlassian JIRA issue tracking application. This software book is different – it’s not documentation, it’s strategy! It’s about what you should do, what you shouldn’t do, and why. Do you know anyone who uses JIRA? Please send them to jirastrategy.com for the digital copy or Amazon for the print copy.
Title: JIRA Strategy Admin Workbook
Sub title: Templates for the application administrator to set up, clean up, and maintain JIRA
Author: Rachel Wright
Publisher: Industry Templates, LLC
Date of Publication: November 30, 2016
ISBN-13: 978-1539090229
ISBN-10: 1539090221
Pages: 295
Download the worksheets, templates & companion materials for this book from the JIRA Strategy Store at: jirastrategy.com/store.
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