Every journey starts with small and sometimes unexpected steps...
The book I authored with Rajaneesh and Niyaz got published a month ago (30-Jun-2022). However, the journey started two years ago.
I never had an intention of writing books. Guess what? The world had other plans.
Two years ago, I got a Linkedin request from Ashitosh. He is from Packt Publishing. On one first interaction, I'm getting to know that they want me to be an author for the first book on the UiPath Associate Certification. We had several rounds of discussions, and I planned on board this incredible journey of becoming an author.
Little did I know that writing a book wasn't that easy.
My initial thought was, okay, how hard can it be... prepare the content and keep on writing.. super easy!!
We signed up for the project and started working on the initial plan on how to structure the book. At this point, I realized that the project's scope was enormous, and the expectations were very high... 😱
Will I be able to meet such high standards and expectations?... I'm just another ordinary guy who knows nothing about writing books... 🤔
Packt Publishing is one of the best publishers in the world. UiPath, on the other hand, is the best RPA tool in the market. Additionally, UiPath Associate Certification is one of the most valued credentials for everyone one of us. The whole process wasn't easy at all.
The process, in general, included the following stages:
Planning sessions to plan and structure the book
Plan what content is covered in each chapter and sub-sections
Review the structure and the planned content and get approval
Start writing content and creating technical workflows on UiPath Studio
Review, perform corrections, and get approval
Combine everything and review again
Getting the book published
These steps may look easy, but we must do a lot of work to pass one stage.
Packt Publishing team supported, motivated, and encouraged us to give our best. Most importantly, they provided all the training needed for us to know everything about writing books, meeting standards, and finally becoming authors. The team was very supportive and patient in guiding us on all our mistakes and correcting everything.
Raj, Niyaz, and I shared the chapters among ourselves and started building the content. I have to say that writing a book is not like writing a blog. Thinking before writing requires much effort, patience, and peace of mind.
Initially, I thought of starting to write the book in the night after my work day ended. However, I realized I was either too tired or not in a proper mood to sit down and think about what to write. Most of the time, I fell asleep...
Next, I started to write in the morning around 07:00 AM before starting my office work. That was too stressful because I started to think about all the work I had to do in the office and never had a proper focus...
I started very early in the morning, at 03:00 AM. Everyone is sleeping, and no one to disturb me. I also don't need to think of any work because there is more than enough time to think of it...
I moved into my balcony as I have a lovely view from there, and the early sunrise gives a beautiful view.
Exactly what I needed...
I got into the right mood to think and plan the content and start writing. Now, my new schedule is to wake up at 03:00 AM, write the book till 09:00 AM, and immediately start office work.
My English is not perfect because I am not a native English speaker\writer. I got the help of some software applications to assist me in writing. The book contains technical topics, and we are required to provide step-by-step guidelines to the readers. We prepared our workflows on UiPath Studio and tried to explain them in simple terms.
Once we completed one chapter, we sent it to the Packt team for review and started writing the next chapter. The Packt team reviewed our work and returned to us with their feedback to improve the content.
We had so many reviews to make the content perfect and flawless.
Multiple self-reviews of the chapters we wrote
Cross reviews with other authors to ensure content is aligned and not repeated
Multiple reviews from the Packt team to ensure content is clear and understandable
Multiple technical reviews from the Packt team to ensure all technical points make sense to readers
Hundreds of reviews from the UiPath team to ensure content is aligned with the certification exam
Reviews to ensure the version of the content is written aligns with the version used for the associate exam
All this work had to be done within strict deadlines given to us by Packt and UiPath.
I still remember the long list of deadlines I had on my desktop to complete revisions and other chapters...
This process continued for two long years to ensure we had all the content in perfect shape to deliver a good product. The journey was challenging and had many ups and downs, struggles to manage work and family life with extra commitments. However, I was able to learn so many new things.
Hours slept was less, but it was totally worth it
Learned how to manage the time better, and even with such a big workload, provide the required attention to family, work, myself, and also our UiPath community
The writing wasn't that stressful after all... Once you get the hang of it, it just becomes a part of your life and soul... I even traveled out of town to relax, sit in a nice place while having a cup of coffee, and start writing...
Be a part of nature, and all the thoughts you need to write comes to you automatically...
Today, we have the UiPath Associate Certification Guide available on Amazon to purchase. It is so satisfying to see all our great efforts coming to reality...
It was and is one of the best experiences I have ever had.
Here is an interview I had with our amazing Packt team to share some of my experiences on the journey...
If you have a dream of becoming an author, I encourage you to connect with the Packt team. They are not just another publisher. They are the best and have a superpower to make our dreams come true...
I take this opportunity to thank the UiPath team for their immense support and encouragement throughout the journey. Further, special thanks go to the Packt team, including Ashitosh, Hayden Edwards, Feza, and Divij, for all the support, motivation, patience, and support. I also take this opportunity to thank the two amazing writers, Raj and Niyaz, for all the support and team effort to make this a great success. Lastly, Thank you to my Boundaryless team, my family, and friends for always supporting and encouraging me throughout my life.
One important thing I learned is...
"Whatever you do... make it a part of your soul... Live it, and enjoy every second of it, and the dream will eventually become a reality."
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