Ask the Author: Chris Minnick
Answered Questions (4)
Chris Minnick
Start writing, or stop aspiring.
Chris Minnick
I'm currently co-authoring Coding with JavaScript For Dummies, an online web app programming course, and a long-ish fiction thing that may turn into a novel.
Teaching computer programming to beginners is fascinating to me. It's been done many many times, but most programming books fail to actually teach programming. It's a really difficult topic to teach in a linear way, and the author has to make a lot of decisions about what to leave in and what to leave out as well as how to explain topics that the reader needs to know in order to understand the current topic, but without the reader having the knowledge to understand the explanation.
So, what I'm currently working on, and probably will be for a long time, is learning how to teach and how to think like a beginner.
Teaching computer programming to beginners is fascinating to me. It's been done many many times, but most programming books fail to actually teach programming. It's a really difficult topic to teach in a linear way, and the author has to make a lot of decisions about what to leave in and what to leave out as well as how to explain topics that the reader needs to know in order to understand the current topic, but without the reader having the knowledge to understand the explanation.
So, what I'm currently working on, and probably will be for a long time, is learning how to teach and how to think like a beginner.
Chris Minnick
Wake up early and avoid distractions. Drink a lot of coffee. Take writing very seriously and make a habit of giving it your full attention for at least some part of every day, no matter how difficult it is.
Maybe some people get 'inspired' and the writing just does itself, but my experience is that if I waited for inspiration I'd never write anything.
Maybe some people get 'inspired' and the writing just does itself, but my experience is that if I waited for inspiration I'd never write anything.
Chris Minnick
Writer's block isn't a problem of not having anything to write about. Most of the time for me, it's actually either a problem of having too much to write, or a problem of not feeling like I'm able to write anything worthwhile.
When the problem of not knowing where to start happens to me, I look for something small to get me started and just focus on that small thing.
When the problem of not feeling like I'm able to write anything worthwhile happens, I'll look for questions like this one to answer and just write for a while and not pay much attention to what I'm actually saying or spend much time editing myself.
When the problem of not knowing where to start happens to me, I look for something small to get me started and just focus on that small thing.
When the problem of not feeling like I'm able to write anything worthwhile happens, I'll look for questions like this one to answer and just write for a while and not pay much attention to what I'm actually saying or spend much time editing myself.
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