Sitting in front of my computer. 8 PM. I have the next 4 hours to rock out on any projects I would like.

Eyes hurting. Wrists burning. Ankles twitching. Whatever.

I really haven’t done a project in a while. It’s interesting to start up again.

Too many things swirl up in my mind. The biz hat. The dev hat. Do I have to wear both? I guess for a little while, I’m going to try and develop this thing on my own. It’ll be a good experience to see how much I know and how much more I don’t.

I have a large amount of past diagrams and outlines I’ve created, just for this moment. Months and months of planning. Just planning. No code. Just diagrams on napkins and dreams in my mind.

My skills in JavaScript is lacking, but I’ve already decided on jQuery as the library of choice. My skills in Ruby is lacking, but I’ve already decided on Rails as the choice (and even though I hear lovely things about Merb).

Stressing the Intro

I remember in high school, I was told to start with the body of the intro-body-conclusion style essays… That it helps somehow in the formation of the essay.

I could never do it that way. I had to just start. Start from the intro. Just start busting it out. Then an impromptu list would begin to form, out of thin air. I’d start formulating the arguments and throwing down the supporting points.

In that same way, I have to just start.

What’s really making me afraid is I’ve never written a book in this manner before. The fear is that I’ll be going down the wrong path.

No, I don’t want to hear about Rails not scaling. It’s not that at all. It’s the fact that this initial plan might somewhere along the line hamper the projects growth. The fact that, if I don’t position my first step correctly, I’ll sprain my ankle and miss out on the season to come.

But to run… even that marathon… I guess each step is a risk. All of life is a risk.

So suck it up. And be awesome instead.

Goals for tonight?

Start coding. Even one line will do. Just one. And then we’ll see where it goes from here.

Chances are, I’ll end up throwing that single line away anyway. Don’t think too much about the source management tool you’ll end up using, the bug tracking system you’ll end up working with, the browser incompatibility you’ll have to deal with…

Take a holistic approach. This is sometimes a problem of mine, and it applies for anything as big as this. I think that’s the way with a lot of people.

Sidenote: I have to understand that some of my weaknesses and downfalls are presented in the whole human race. I need to stop thinking that my problems are so much more important than others.

One line. Time to get cracking. Oh, that one line, and maybe a couple posts or something.