RicDay on Publishing

Catching up with family in New England after O'Reilly's excellent and busy Tools of Change 2011 and reflecting on what a hellish year 2010 turned out to be.

The year was certainly a difficult one in the publishing business, but most years are so.

Last year the battles were personal and vicious. At a conference in March I collapsed with what was thought to be a heart attack but later turned out to be an extremely vicious form of salmonellosis — the cramps were severe enough that I ruptured my abdominals. Almost a year later, and treatment of the damage to the stomach lining is projected to last another 12 to 24 months. I now am in the peculiar situation of having lost a lot of weight, but gained (bloating) a lot of girth.

As if that were not bad enough, in the latter part of last year my wife of 40 summers was diagnosed with a growth on the pituitary gland (it was causing a quite rapid loss of eyesight). Surgery was hurriedly scheduled and, thankfully, was successful.

So the two of us are working our way back towards health. I have a feeling this year in books may be as nasty as last year was on the personal front. Unlike the past six months, I intend to write more about it here.