Writing a book—something done by yourself in a quiet room—is a great way to meet people. Seriously.
The first person I met is my acquisitions editor, Rachel. She is the one who brings all the right people together to complete the book you are reading. The wonderful folks at Focal Press (yes, I am talking to you Carlin, Laura, and Cassie) take my chicken scratch words, edit them, and bind them. Ryan, my long time friend and technical editor, checks all my code.
But it is not just the publishers who help—there are loads of other people.
This last year I was able to teach at UW-Oshkosh where I forced all my students to read my books and then proceeded to lecture them on the benefits of mobile web design. What great guinea pigs! I have to thank Mike, Cindy, Lynnea, Audralyn, Beth, Christine, Katie, Kaylyn, Melinda, Nicole, and Taira. You guys rock.
I also have to thank Kin at Adobe for all his help with jQuery Mobile—the guy is a modest genius!
I live in the middle of nowhere in a farmhouse a mile from the nearest village (Stockbridge is the proud cultural center of 600 residents, four bars, one gas station, and no grocery stores—we have our priorities set straight!). I get to write and research in peace.
You see, writing books is fun. Meeting people because of the books I have written—that’s brilliant!