I’ve been holding off mentioning anything about this because I still have a hard time believing it’s really happening, but it appears it actually is happening, so…
I’m published!! Woo-hoo!!
Back in November, 2011 (!), I came across a blog post by Jen McCown soliciting abstracts for chapters of a new book she was thinking of putting together. The book was to be a collection of information that DBAs should know, but that generally isn’t taught. Submissions were limited specifically to only those people who had never been professionally published before. I submitted three abstracts and one was chosen – Backup Verification Using Statistical Analysis. Two years later, the resulting book, Tribal SQL, is being published. (The book is also available through Amazon.com.)
Putting my chapter together was quite an experience. I wrote the first draft, then it underwent three reviews from the other authors and volunteer editors before finally getting a couple of workovers from Tony Davis, the editor over at Red Gate. I knew in theory what an editor did, but it was amazing to experience it firsthand. His comments and suggestions were invaluable.
Thanks to Jen McCown for spearheading the entire project! Thanks to Peter Blomgren, my Swedish friend from 25 years back (whom I met when he came to the U.S. to see Debbie Gibson in concert) and who just happens to now be a math instructor at San Diego State University. He helped me clarify some of the statistical terms. Any mistakes are mine, not his. Thanks to Thomas LaRock, whose article about backups verification and statistical analysis on simple-talk.com was the inspiration for my chapter.
So now I can add “published author” to my resume. I’ve always wanted to have something published, but I figured it would be fiction or more along the lines of something like this or this.
Check out the book and let me know what you think. I’ll also take this opportunity to point out that I have a 4+ hours video course tailored towards junior and involuntary DBAs over at Udemy.com. Use coupon code BLOG15OFF to get a 15% discount.
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