This is the bimonthly 'What are you working On?' thread. Previous threads are here. So here's the question:
What are you working on?
Here are some guidelines:
- Focus on projects that you have recently made progress on, not projects that you're thinking about doing but haven't started.
- Why this project and not others? Mention reasons why you're doing the project and/or why others should contribute to your project (if applicable).
- Talk about your goals for the project.
- Any kind of project is fair game: personal improvement, research project, art project, whatever.
- Link to your work if it's linkable.
I am painfully slowly finishing my textbook on high-school computer science. The text is ready, only the pictures are missing, but there are still many pictures missing. If I write a book next time, I will always make sketches of pictures while writing, so that I don't have to decipher my notes months later.
Why am I doing this? Mostly for signalling. The textbook market in Slovakia is heavily regulated -- only the textbooks written for government contract can be used in schools, and the terms of contract are very bad for authors. This is why (updates for) many textbooks are missing for decades, because there is no volunteer to write them. Unfortunately, this policy will probably not change soon, so I decided to do it. My expected gains: First, writing a non-fiction book was always my dream, so I don't mind not getting much money for the first one. Second, if I write some books later, I could use this textbook as an advertising.
I also started writing a simple computer game. When it is ready, I will write blog articles about making the game. Then I will do the same with a bit more complex game, etc. Expected gain: signalling and adsense income. If the project is successful, I could later publish it as a book.
A long term goal (to which both these activities contribute) is to be a writer, not a code monkey. Expected gains: independence, time flexibility, more pleasant work. Main hindrance: heavy akrasia.