Self-assessment
Here’s what I’ve got.
2 chapters introducing jQuery and Jasmine via a walkthrough of a simple piece of JavaScript functionality.
1 need to convert all my text from its current proprietary format to something more Markdown based.
1 genuinely silly conceit tying together the application that gets built in the book. And I mean that in the best way. It should be silly, there’s no reason not to be bold. There is even a twist ending. I think.
1 slightly dusty self-publishing tool chain that converts a directory of markdown files into HTML, with syntax colored code. It’s possible that there’s a better library for some of the features these days.
1 chapter on converting that simple piece of jQuery into various patterns of JavaScript object. I quite like this one, actually.
1 website, which is currently hosted by WordPress – at one point, I had to abandon the railsrx.com site that actually sold stuff, and WordPress was easy. I think I’ll need to upgrade that a bit.
1 Intro chapter covering JavaScript basics and the Chrome developer tools. Not sure if this is at the right level for the audience I expect.
1 Prince XML license for converting said HTML files into PDF. No idea if that’s still the best tool for the job. Or even if my license is current.
1 chapter on building a marginally complex auto complete widget in jQuery and Jasmine. I like this example.
1 copy of most of the book’s JavaScript code in CoffeeScript. Not sure when I thought this was the right idea for the book, beyond an excuse to use CoffeeScript.
1 chapter on jQuery and Ajax.
0 toolchains for generating epub and mobi files. I know I can find this.
1 case of impostor’s syndrome, not helped by rereading the harsh review of Rails Test Prescriptions on Amazon. That was dumb, why would I do that?
1 chapter on using JSON. As far as I can remember, this chapter never went to edit.
3 people who mentioned on Twitter that they’d buy a self-published book. Don’t worry, I won’t hold you to it.
1 plan for writing 2 or three chapters on Backbone.js
5 people who reviewed the last version who I feel should get free copies when this comes out. It’s not their fault.
4 viewings of Ze Frank’s “Invocation for Beginnings”
So. Ready to go. Watch this space.