The book is printing (today/tomorrow/yesterday?)

It seems like it's taken forever, but the little birdies tell me that Laravel: Up and Running is going to print either now or in the next few days. Here's a sneak preview of the actual physical print cover:

I've had a lot of friends write and self-publish Ebooks. I even wrote a bit about why I decided to go with a traditional publisher. While I knew working with a publisher would make the process slower and more complex, I was completely unprepared for the impact a print edition of the book would make on the writing process.

Printing a book means indexing the book, paying incredible attention to widows and page breaks and other very physical concepts, and designing things like you see above: a back cover! A spine cover! These things are obviously parts of any printed book—but completely absent from the Ebook writing process.

So, what does this mean for me? Well, first, I have a new appreciation for the work that goes into publishing a printed book. Writing it is just one piece of the process.

Second, I think my next book—whenever I get around to writing one—will probably be a self-published Ebook. Not saying I won't ever write another physical book, but just that I want to have the experience from the other side. See what it feels like. Write the words, hit "generate", and then release it right away.

Regardless, I cannot wait to see this book finally release and get into folks' hands. I'm pumped.

New project, releasing March 2017

I can't share what it is quite yet, but let's just say this: I just had my first call for another project I'm going to be releasing next year that I hope will be an incredible learning resource. Some quick hints: this next project involves cameras, microphones, and flying across the country. That's as much as I can say; it'll release in March of 2017 and I'll have a lot more information available shortly.

2016 and 2017 Conferences

I'm currently planning to attend at least three conferences in 2017, and I'm speaking at at least two of the three (maybe all three).

I'll be attending (and who knows, maybe speaking at) PeersConf in Seattle in April, hopefully speaking at an as-yet-undisclosed conference in May, and speaking at Laracon US in New York in July. If you haven't been, I'd highly recommend both PeersConf and Laracon; they're by far the best conferences I've attended that you can still attend today. I'll share more information once the secret conference is released.

I also just signed on at the last second to speak at an online conference in December of this year. I'll be giving a talk about running an entirely-remote consultancy at Remote Working Conference.

I may find myself at one more conference, but in my daughter's first year of life, I'm trying to keep travel to a minimum.

Check out what I've been up to lately:

THE BLOG

• The New Notification System in Laravel 5.3

TIGHTEN BLOG

• Let the Developers Carry Your Message (a really fun post connecting the Chicago Cubs and what kind of manager I want to be)

FIVE-MINUTE GEEK SHOW

• 91 | Commitments, not (or and) goals
• 90 | It's OK to specialize. We're a Laravel Shop. That's OK.