Discussion on: I wrote a book on CSS Grid - Here's how! 📖💡

[Pascal Thormeier]

Don't be sorry, wanting to learn is never a bad thing and I love answering all your questions! 😀

"Following" and "previous" are good substitutes. So, instead of talking about the "above figure", I would write "the previous figure", or mention the figure number directly, i.e. "As shown in figure 3.14". My own mind is usually very focussed on locality when it comes to ordering information, so it took me a bit to adjust to that, but once I got used to this technique, it worked fine. I recently read a papeback book that did not follow that approach and I immediately noticed why using "above" and "below" doesn't work. If the formatting is just slightly different in the final product than it is in the draft, you might end up having "the above figure" as the first line of a page on the left (assuming LTR writing), meaning there is no "above" or "left" at all. "Previous", on the other hand, circumvents that.

While writing, I used MS Word only, so I added section titles, paragraph spacings, figures, code examples etc. in there directly. The page target included these, so what counted was the actual page count of the Word documents. Figures also transport information, although in a different format, so counting them is sensible. Code examples, especially with comments, allow the reader to understand what is going on by being able to look at actual examples of things being used, which is yet another way of conveying information. I think the publisher used page targets to get a sense of how large the end product will be. A word count of, say 10k words (roughly 20 pages, according to A Popular Search Engine™) may produce a wildly different page count if there are a lot of figures vs when there are no figures at all. A page count keeps things manageable.

I hope this answered your questions, is there anything else you want to know? ☺️

[Anthony Fung]

Thanks for the detailed info. Just one more thing please: it sounds like it was quite hectic - especially towards the end. How did you find time for everything, especially with a full-time job? Did you have to set aside strict time blocks for writing?

[Pascal Thormeier]

You're very welcome!

You're right, it was quite hectic at times and sometimes I struggled to meet the deadlines. We didn't rush it, though, and usually the project manager and editor were very understanding if I had good reasons for not meeting a deadline, such as falling ill (I caught a nasty flu halfway through), family business or holidays.

I tried to stick to a rhythm, spending one to two hours per day writing. I would use train rides and other idle time to work on the project, too. I tried getting up really early for a few weeks, work on the book before breakfast and then work on my job. That worked surprisingly well, especially since I did not have to write for two hours after already working for eight.

Sometimes I had to spend the weekend, though, working for some four to eight hours per day, but I think that was a necessary sacrifice that I was more than willing to make. Handing in a large chapter I was happy with, gave me a feeling of achievement, and that was usually enough to compensate for not being able to play video games that day lol. Luckily my partner was very supportive and had my back in crunch times. Don't underestimate the support you get from loved ones during such a project. Helping each other thrive can strengthen the bond so much.

Is there anything else you want to know? I'm happy to answer all your questions! 😊

[Anthony Fung]

I think that's about it (for now 😁).

Thanks again for the detailed answers, and best of luck!