c250d07

A few months ago I started to poke around with Clojure. As this is my first serious dance with a functional language, I've been compiling a lot of notes and code samples as part of the learning process.

A thought has wedged its way into my brain; I'd like to take my informal scraps of knowledge, put together an ebook and sell it. Not sure about the length yet, but my hope is that it would be short, dense, and cheap ($15/100 pages max). Kinda like "Learn Python the Hard Way" for Clojure, but with training wheels.

Problem: I'm not a known person in the software world. Heck, I've done some websites, written some scripts, done some sys admin stuff, but I'm just an average guy with average skills.

I know credibility helps sell copies, but I kinda feel like selling such a product would be (for lack of a better word) cheating people. To be honest, this thought has surfaced in other ideas as well. I find myself unable to create and sell things, despite a >tremendous< urge to do so.

I'm just a mere mortal. Should I wait until I'm more skilled to make and sell these types of things, or try to get better by doing it? Or not even worry about such things?

Have any of you ever experienced this feeling?

Maybe this is just be a problem of low/no self-esteem, but any thoughts would be very much appreciated.

I’ve always had an interest in computers, but studied Sociology in university. I finished my degree during the summer of 08--right before the recession hit my area very hard. Then I took up a lot of random writing and entry level programming freelance gigs to make the rent (kind of a digital blue-collar worker).

Since then, I’ve been going through a very long period of anxiety and depression (long family history), sometimes very severe. After a lot of counseling, some medication, and getting my shit together (exercise, diet, etc), I feel like I’ve finally gotten better.

I feel like I’m transitioning into a new period of life. Work feels so much easier to do. But, I can’t help but feel guilty. A lot of years feel like they’ve been wasted and some pretty bad mistakes were made when I first started freelancing.

Needless to say, I’m going to continue to pursue programming and eventually entrepreneurship.

Any words of advice would be greatly appreciated.