December 21, 2011
From Geekbooks to Gas Mileage?
I've been lucky over the years. Not big-time, lottery-winning lucky, but fortunate in my chosen career. To earn one's living as a writer is a wonderful thing, though it can be a grind when the process becomes an assembly line.
After putting twenty geekbooks to bed, I filled up a bookshelf and shelved the chainsaw. Bang your head against the wall for long enough, and you'll either see the light or pass out. All those years of working on the web while being simultaneously tied to a traditional publishing mechanism finally brought on the light; the online world simply provides a greater return on a writer's investment in time.
Transitioning from technical how-to books to gas mileage wasn't intentional. In 2007, I reached the end of a research project. The concept was left unsold, but the core research eventually brought focus. There was nothing left to do but launch a website to further the cause.
