“I Wrote Draft Seven, Which Is Largely Organized But Still Somewhat Scattered Thoughts Placed in Chapters (the Chapter Titles Are a Lock at This Point — Just Making Final Decisions on Chapter Titles Is a Big Organizational Advance) but Without Good Enough Narrative Flow, Earlier This Year. I Am Now Working on Draft Eight, Which Will Have the Proper Narrative Flow. I Am Getting Through Roughly a Chapter per Week.”

Set forth below is the text of a comment that I recently posted to the discussion thread for another blog entry at this site:

Have you started your job search?

I have not.

I am working on what I consider the eighth draft of the book. I count the collection of the material that I put in the 30 binders that used to be in my basement as Draft One. I count the exploration of the ideas on internet discussion boards that I participated in after I put forward my famous post of May 13, 2002, as Draft Two. I count the writing of full-length articles at this site (which forced me to organize and expand my thinking more than I did to write discussion-board posts) as Draft Three. I count the recording of the 200 one-hour podcasts that I recorded in 2009 (in the days following the initiation of the economic crisis) as Draft Four. I count my first stab at writing a full book (in which the ideas were not yet sufficiently developed for the book to possess a high level of clarity and flow) as Draft Five.

I count the 11,000 word article (“Buy-and-Hold Is Dangerous”) that I wrote near the end of last year to summarize all that I have learned in one complete and concise statement of the case as Draft Six. I wrote Draft Seven, which is largely organized but still somewhat scattered thoughts placed in chapters (the chapter titles are a lock at this point — just making final decisions on chapter titles is a big organizational advance) but without good enough narrative flow, earlier this year. I am now working on Draft Eight, which will have the proper narrative flow.

I am getting through roughly a chapter per week. I expect to finish that by Labor Day. Draft Nine is for fine-tuning. I want to give myself two months for that. Draft Nine is for proof-reading. I want to give myself a month for that (I had to read through my book on saving 40 times before I was able to get through the entire thing without making a single fix — that’s when I knew that it was ready [I only identified one missing comma after it was printed). That would get me to December 1. Then I give myself a month of slack time to finish by the end of the year.

I expect that I will put out some feelers re a job when I have finished this draft and have only the fine-tuning and proofing drafts remaining. If I don’t immediately get a job, which is the likely scenario, then I will continue with the book-writing until it is complete. If I hear about a job that I don’t want to pass up, I will grab it but then the only work that will be remaining on the book will be fine-tuning and proofing. Those are tasks that don’t require a huge amount of mental energy, so I would have no concern that I wouldn’t be able to complete those tasks at the end of a full work day (I would be concerned that I would not be able to complete the work that I am doing today in an effective and timely way while also holding a full-time job). So I would be okay with accepting a job from September 1 forward.

If I haven’t found a job by the end of the year, then I would of course lower my standards a bit re what I would accept to bring myself more into line with what the job market is offering me at this stage of my life. Until the book is complete, my intent is to accept only a job that represents a very good fit. That’s the current plan, in any event. I like to have a plan. But I also try to adapt to changing circumstances. So none of this is written in stone.

My best wishes to you.

Book-Writing Rob