Going from one storm into another

Summer may be just getting going for most people, but it's about to end already for a lot of football writers across the country as NFL training camps start in a couple of weeks and SEC Media Days is July 16-18.

Like usual it's been a busy offseason for me.

First off, I'm happy to let everyone know that the first draft of the book is done. It ended up being more elaborate than I originally thought, just under 200,000 words, which will be trimmed down to near 150,000 and updated after the upcoming season.

Look for an announcement here in the near future about the subject and tentative title. The scheduled release is for a year from now.

Second, I pulled the reins in on the offseason projects and did only one, Lindy's Alabama preview magazine. Like last year I did the cover story, plus two more features and a roundtable discussion with Don Kausler and Andrew Gribble. Hopefully you'll like the issue, which is now hitting stores.

Finally, a quick thank you to the Alabama Sports Writers Association, as I recently took home the best feature award and was second place in the game story category in the Internet division. Always an honor and much appreciated.