V. A Special Note to Blog Readers
There are inherent challenges when one tries to serialize a non-fiction book. No matter how clearly I imagine the product that I'm shooting for, actually writing it is a process of discovery. Up until the final draft I'm finding better ways to order the chapters, additional topics that need coverage, and sections that should be deleted altogether.

This makes things difficult for the reader in two ways. Firstly, because I'm breaking earlier promises about the book's outline, it can be confusing when I launch into chapters that aren't the ones I said would come next. Secondly, there's a strong tendency for full-fledged essays to pop up in the middle of chapters, where short sections were supposed to be instead. ...At times, getting from point A to point B becomes an absurdly long and convoluted process.

The present essay is an excellent example. An "About This Book" chapter ought to be a brief introduction. Instead, this subject has taken up ten entries online, and over seventy pages of long-hand, college-ruled composition. Reviewing the product, I count maybe seven autonomous essays here. What a morass!

Still, the effort of pushing through the nesting of this chapter's outline has had value for me. Through the exercise I've produced a rich body of text that can be recycled and refined in other places. I apologize to my readers for the trouble, and hope that they will bear with me for revised versions.

Thanks for sticking in there.

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March 7, 2003