September
I have been doing “miracle mornings.” The goal is to get to a cafe early, open my laptop, and start working. I persuaded one or two friends to join me and somehow made it to day 20, although I rarely finish as much as I plan. Still, because I have to wake up early, my daily rhythm feels healthier.
At the cafe, I make a conscious effort to work on personal projects. I am writing a book, and since starting these mornings, I have made steady progress.
Even with two hours almost every weekday, however, the pages do not appear as quickly as I hoped. My goal was to finish the first draft by the end of September, but an extension seems unavoidable. I have never worked this hard and still missed a deadline, and I feel deeply sorry toward my editor. I respect everyone who writes a book.
The book is about product design. Drawing on my own experience, I explain how UI is designed in practice by building an example service along the way. I underestimated how long it would take to explain every choice I make while designing an app. (My sincere apologies to my editor, who has had to revise the publication timeline repeatedly because of my inexperience.)
The book teaches product design through practice with Figma. What I overlooked was how quickly Figma improves. Two or three major updates meant I had to replace every screenshot in the opening chapters. As a user, I can no longer welcome every good update without mixed feelings.
October
I am still writing. The manuscript is now more than 60% complete. My workplace agreed to let me use the material to train colleagues, and we also discussed using parts of those recorded lessons in the book. I am proud that the classes and the book may reinforce each other later. After speaking with the publisher, we set the final deadline for the end of this year, giving me time to strengthen what I have already written.
Even topics I assume I know make me question whether I am using the right vocabulary and explaining them accurately once I put them into words. I keep searching and double-checking familiar ideas, and I find myself learning more in the process. The book also has to explain terms beyond UI design, such as IA, agile, and user segments. Making concepts I only roughly understood easy for someone else forced me to think more carefully. I hope the writing is clear for readers.
November
I am still doing miracle mornings. Since day one, I have photographed the cafe whenever I go there to write, and I am proud that the count recently passed 60. I have become lazier than at the beginning, cutting each session to about an hour or ninety minutes, but writing the book in the morning now feels like a real habit. The first draft is around 90% complete. After working on it for so long, part of me wants to finish and move on to something else. Still, there is work left, and I will do my best until it is done. (The book is planned for release in the first half of next year. My revised goal is to finish the initial draft and send it to the publisher by the end of this year.)