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RE: My Approach to Writing for SQLServerCentral

sayfrend — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:53:34 GMT

Great article. Thanks for writing this article. I was in need of one such article.~ IM.

RE: My Approach to Writing for SQLServerCentral

WolforthJ — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 10:53:33 GMT

Corollary to Thomas Edison's quote, "90% of average people think they are a genius because they had an inspiration." Thanks for taking the time to do the work for this article, very useful.

RE: My Approach to Writing for SQLServerCentral

RichardDouglas — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 03:25:22 GMT

[quote]A directors cutI'm not sure if you can have a "bloopers" section in a written article, it would be an interesting challenge![/quote]Maybe not in the article itself, but having a discussion forum provides the perfect platform to provide examples of things that weren't included as well as an explanation why.Come on, spill the beans!Love the autosig btw. Rich

RE: My Approach to Writing for SQLServerCentral

David.Poole — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:44:04 GMT

[quote]The one critique I would have is this:The article mentions quite heavily the editing process, so it would have been nice to have some kind of appendix where the reader could see where edits had been made, the extra 60 - 70% that never made the grade as well as the reason(s) why. Rich[/quote]A directors cut:hehe:I'm not sure if you can have a "bloopers" section in a written article, it would be an interesting challenge!

RE: My Approach to Writing for SQLServerCentral

Jeff Moden — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:00:16 GMT

[quote][b]Phil Parkin (6/19/2009)[/b][hr][quote][b]Steve Jones - Editor (6/19/2009)[/b][hr]"practise" is the English spelling, where David is located. Practice, is the US spelling. Personally, the more I teach my kids, the more I think English is a huge mess.[/quote]Practice is a noun.Practise is the spelling of the associated verb. Compare with 'advice' and 'advise'.That's UK English, by the way. No idea about US English.[/quote]Heh... people who speak US English have no idea either. :-P

RE: My Approach to Writing for SQLServerCentral

Jack Corbett — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 13:53:41 GMT

Good article David. I know that I probably don't put enough time into the writing process, even though I usually spend many hours over a couple of weeks writing them. I really like the section on handling criticism, you need to expect some and be ecstatic if you don't get any.For those who have mentioned not being good writers, my advice is to just start writing. Have a professional blog that you practice with, and some advice Steve gave me, if the post is more that a couple of pages or very technical, then it is probably worth submitting as an article. I hated writing in school, but now I find it fun and rewarding.For those who have mentioned not having the time, just spend a few minutes a day on an idea and outline and as David suggests write things down when you think of them. Eventually all those notes will flash out into an article.

RE: My Approach to Writing for SQLServerCentral

Trey Staker — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 13:23:41 GMT

Great article. I really admire those that can write and appreciate their willingness to share with us. I've found that personally I'm a much better reader than writer though someday I'd like to be able to write well enough to contribute my experiences with others. My only question is where people find the hours of extra time it takes to write for a site like this? I don't even have time to completely read everything.

RE: My Approach to Writing for SQLServerCentral

Phil Parkin — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 13:04:36 GMT

[quote][b]Steve Jones - Editor (6/19/2009)[/b][hr]"practise" is the English spelling, where David is located. Practice, is the US spelling. Personally, the more I teach my kids, the more I think English is a huge mess.[/quote]Practice is a noun.Practise is the spelling of the associated verb. Compare with 'advice' and 'advise'.That's UK English, by the way. No idea about US English.

RE: My Approach to Writing for SQLServerCentral

Steve Jones - SSC Editor — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 10:11:52 GMT

"practise" is the English spelling, where David is located. Practice, is the US spelling. Personally, the more I teach my kids, the more I think English is a huge mess.

RE: My Approach to Writing for SQLServerCentral

Jeff Moden — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 10:02:27 GMT

[quote][b]Grant Fritchey (6/19/2009)[/b][hr]Excellent article. Thanks for putting it up. I just wish you had posted it a few years ago. I'm going to print it out now & keep it handy as a reference while I'm working. Excellent conversation too. Good feedback Phil. Jeff, the one thing I've learned in the last ten years, but keep forgetting, is to test, test, test, everything. Everything I hear, everything I read, everything I write. You've got it 100% correct. Testing is knowing. Anything else is just assumptions. Thanks guys.[/quote]Heh... thanks for the feedback there, Grant. Every time I forget to test, someone installs handrails and force feeds me my own pork chops. It's a lesson hard learned for me that I try to never skip. As Sergiy taught me a very long time ago, "A Developer must not guess, a Developer must KNOW."

RE: My Approach to Writing for SQLServerCentral

RichardDouglas — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 10:00:17 GMT

Very inspiring article, having recently read Brad McGeehee's "How to Become an Exceptional DBA" (looking forward to the second edition) this article came up at exactly the right time for me. There are numerous blog's available on how to write a blog entry, but I found this to be a very well thought out and polished article.The one critique I would have is this:The article mentions quite heavily the editing process, so it would have been nice to have some kind of appendix where the reader could see where edits had been made, the extra 60 - 70% that never made the grade as well as the reason(s) why. Rich

RE: My Approach to Writing for SQLServerCentral

jcrawf02 — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 08:56:59 GMT

[quote][b]zooomer (6/19/2009)[/b][hr]practise is spelled practice.[/quote]The first letter of a sentence should be capitalized, and when quoting, double quotes should be used. C'mon, really?

RE: My Approach to Writing for SQLServerCentral

Jim-965085 — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 08:40:47 GMT

practise is spelled practice.

RE: My Approach to Writing for SQLServerCentral

jcrawf02 — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 08:12:41 GMT

I think I just paid a thousand bucks or so for this information in a college-level writing course. ;-) Very nice article, easy to read and excellent advice. Thanks!Jon

RE: My Approach to Writing for SQLServerCentral

Florian Reischl — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 07:58:28 GMT

David,Great article!Exactly what I'm currently looking for.Flo

RE: My Approach to Writing for SQLServerCentral

Grant Fritchey — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 06:10:46 GMT

Excellent article. Thanks for putting it up. I just wish you had posted it a few years ago. I'm going to print it out now & keep it handy as a reference while I'm working. Excellent conversation too. Good feedback Phil. Jeff, the one thing I've learned in the last ten years, but keep forgetting, is to test, test, test, everything. Everything I hear, everything I read, everything I write. You've got it 100% correct. Testing is knowing. Anything else is just assumptions. Thanks guys.

RE: My Approach to Writing for SQLServerCentral

Jeff Moden — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 06:05:42 GMT

Outstanding article, David... as usual. Thanks for the great reminders and suggestions.I'd like to remind folks of two other things...1. Use a spelling checker...2. Not everything on the internet or in books is correct...The first item above should go without saying. Nothing destroys the credibility of what you're trying to do quicker than a plethora of spelling errors. Everyone will forgive 1 or 2 spelling errors in an article, but not 10 in the first paragraph. Further, if you're writing on a predominately English site and English is a second language that you're not very good at, you may want to have someone review your work before you publish. I know that I wouldn't attempt to write in any foreign language without a severe review by a person who spoke the language as a primary language.The second item is important, as well. Just because some author, even well published and popular authors, have an article on the internet or in a book, it doesn't guarantee that the methods in the article are correct. The old saying that "One experiment is worth more than one thousand expert opinions" still holds true. If you're going to rely on or cite someone else's work to make your point, then you really need to make sure that you actually test the methods in that other person's work before you include them in your article.

RE: My Approach to Writing for SQLServerCentral

kevriley — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 05:53:41 GMT

David,I always find your articles very interesting, easy to read and entertaining!You should get them printed and bound!Kev

RE: My Approach to Writing for SQLServerCentral

steve.saunders-611242 — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 04:42:22 GMT

Thank you for a very good reminder on how to prepare an article.May I also suggest that anybody replying to articles which have obviously taken considerable time and effort to compose respect the author by doing the same, and construct an equally considered and [i]spell-checked[/i] response! Although forum pages such as these make knee-jerk replies easy to publish, remember that your name and that unstructured stream of consciousness you are about to submit will be immortalised.Off-line preparation is absolutely essential, (as I keep reminding my teenagers who believe they can construct essays from scratch at the keyboard). But that topic is for another forum.One other point, without sounding like a miserable git: do one-liners contribute anything to a forum? If you've nothing constructive to add - and the mechanism exists - just rate the article.(BTW, this reply took me about half an hour to compose)

RE: My Approach to Writing for SQLServerCentral

David.Poole — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 04:04:40 GMT

Personally my favourite was "The losers"

RE: My Approach to Writing for SQLServerCentral

SuperDBA-207096 — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 04:01:00 GMT

David,Well done!Thanks to you and all of the other authors who write for SQL Server Central. I think my biggest hurdle is finding time!Mark

RE: My Approach to Writing for SQLServerCentral

Samuel Vella — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 02:58:23 GMT

Interesting Factoid for the dayDavid Eddings co-wrote The Belgariad with his wife, Leigh Eddings.

RE: My Approach to Writing for SQLServerCentral

Phil Factor — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 02:13:21 GMT

Well said, David. I agree with almost all you have written.I'd like to drop in one or two other bits of general advice, if I may. The first is that writing is just as much a craft as making a pot, creating furniture or tuning a Chevvy. Nobody is born with the talent, and as with any other skill, you have to put in the hours and the apparently interminable failure before it all comes together. The process is the same too. You get, and read, a decent manual. I always recommend Stephen Leacock's book; 'How to Write'. It is very old, but Stephen Leacock http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Leacock (a great influence on a generation of American comic writers) was very successful, and a master of a number of different forms including academic papers. You then observe, and study, how really successful writers work their craft skills. Where you can, develop your own unique voice. We tend to accommodate, or copy, other writers styles rather than assimilate them, or to use the good ideas. The great creative people are very aware of this difference. In the late sixties, Jimi Hendrix picked up all sorts of ideas from Jeff Back, Eric Clapton and a host of other young guitarists in the London Blues circuit in the late 1960s. However, he didn't copy them but assimilated these ideas into a new and wildly creative form. If he had copied the licks slavishly, rather than adapt them into his own lyrical style, we'd never have had that unique period of creativity. A lot of budding writers make the mistake of repressing their own unique voice in order to copy a different style. Bad idea. Use all the tricks and techniques you can get hold of, but bend them to your own requirements. Most often, helping a writer involved helping him/her unlearn the awful habits and literary mannerisms that university lecturers misguidedly insist on in academic papers. (Stephen Leacock, who was head of the political economy department at McGill University, gives a very good, amusing, account of the awfulness of academic writing)I feel compelled to make the point that writing is like a conversation, or rather a monologue, to a real person. If you can hold someone's attention whilst explaining a technical matter, it is likely that it will make a good article. If, on the contrary, you tend to clear the room by launching into your speech, it is time to think again. I like to try out ideas out in conversation, before considering anything written. Because writing is just an extension or substitute for speech, written style should be as close as possible to it. You shouldn't adopt a different, more formal, written style.The last thing I'd say, in agreement with David, that writing a good article is hard work. the delete key is your greatest friend. Some of my articles have taken days of toil, spread out over months. They've involved a lot of research and double-checking (and still I get things wrong!). They are constantly re-worked until they seem to read smoothly and logically. It is best to realize this from the start, so that when an occasional article just trips off the keyboard as if by magic, it will be an agreeable surprise.

RE: My Approach to Writing for SQLServerCentral

Phil Parkin — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 02:05:55 GMT

Nice article. I thought that Edison said this:[quote]Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.[/quote]Is there a separate quote of his just for "success"?

RE: My Approach to Writing for SQLServerCentral

Jagadish Kumar Punnapu — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 01:57:22 GMT

Thanks for the inspiring article David.I wish that someday I will also contribute at least one article to our great SQL Server Central community.

My Approach to Writing for SQLServerCentral

David.Poole — Thu, 21 May 2009 00:18:08 GMT

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