Yes! ... and now for a break

Ok, I now consider myself a bit of an expert on the Pittsburgh Steelers after finishing off the second book, Steelers Triviology. Probably the best thing about writing these is the feeling after each one's done -- although having all three in the can will obviously be best of all.

But yes, I'm tired, so it's time to step away for a couple of days and then hit the final month with the Packers book.

The Steelers book is a little bigger, with a lot more quotes and nicknames, and a special section on the Immaculate Reception. Here's the lead quote from the title page, which is pretty telling about the organization: "I believe the game is designed to reward the ones who hit the hardest. If you can't take it, you shouldn't play." -- Jack Lambert

Over the hump ... sort of

If public theater is going to promote one of the teams I'm doing a book on, I think it's only fair that I return the favor, don't you?

I wonder what they did for an encore.

I'm getting close to finishing the draft on the Steelers book, which is good because I'm rapidly running out of days. Either way, I'm more than half-way finished with the entire project, which has to be completed byApril 1. Again, no pressure.

The last two sections I have to do the majority of work on are the stadiums and records. Otherwise I've broken it down into six other tasks, which I hope to finish by Monday night, Tuesday at the absolute latest. That way I can begin work on the Packers edition March 1.

Steelers book under way

The key to getting the first book done was that it gave me a format, or formula if you will, to work with. Two changes I've already made were to expend the sections on nicknames and quotes because, well, they're fun. So why not?

There's no Ring of Honor section like the Cowboys, or bonus section on the cheerleaders, but the Steelers have more history, Hall of Famers and Super Bowl appearances so it should pretty much even out. The bonus section will be on the Immaculate Reception.

Like usual I'm behind where I need to be, but can hopefully still catch up during the next week. I'm also going to have to add extra stuff for Super Bowl XLV, but that's anything but a problem.

First one down ...

Some good news for the trivia book project today.

Not only did I finish the first of the three books, on the Dallas Cowboys (thus, the celebration picture, er, cartoon), but the other two editions will be playing for the Super Bowl.

The Packers vs. the Steelers. Looks like that won't hurt sales at all. Nice.

FYI, the final question for the Cowboys book was: "When Dallas finally hosted its first Super Bowl, XLV, which two postseason rivals of the Cowboys played at Cowboys Stadium?"

The first deadline is already looming ...

The first deadline is at the end of the month and I'm now settling into, "Oh my, what have I gotten myself into?" mode. The book is actually coming together nicely, but there's just so much and I haven't been able to spend near the time I'd like on it.

Yes, I got through the Capital One Bowl fine, but that was a lot of work combined with driving on both Christmas and New Year's Day, and every day since there have been breaking stories. Day off? Forget it.

So I've broken it down into week-long segments:

This week: Finish up the biggest section of the book.
Next week: Finish up the other sections.
Jan 16-22. Put it all together, write the introductions and edit the whole thing.

That'll give me one extra week to play with heading into the two other editions (February and March), but that's down from an extra month. That's when you start getting concerned because if something goes wrong ...

... but you can't think like that. Back at it in the morning.

Change in plans ...

So just when everything seemed to be going along well 0n the trivia books I got an email today that changed everything.

Ok, not everything, but one-third of things.

The third book, on the Vikings, is going to be put on hold until next year. Considering one of the team executives said about this season: "Dear God. We're just wondering what could possibly happen next," I really can't argue the decision.

So instead I'll be doing the Green Bay Packers, the last NFL team I covered. So it's Cowboys, Steelers and Packers editions hitting stores before the 2011 season.

The good thing is that this means the series is already slated to continue even before I've finished the first edition. Cool.

Progress report on the Cowboys book

It's less than two weeks before Christmas and I'm pretty sure I'm going to miss my self-imposed goal of finishing the Cowboys edition by the end of the month. Considering bowl practices start later this week that's to be expected and I'm not disappointed -- especially with the aggressive schedule I'm attempting: Have a draft done as close to Christmas as possible and proof and edit while in Orlando for the Capital One Bowl.

It might happen, it might not. But I'm on pace to do so. We'll see because that figures to be a hectic trip.

Unfortunately I'll be driving down Christmas Day and driving back New Year's Day after the game, maybe with a manuscript in tow.

First up, the Dallas Cowboys

Work on the first book has begun and I decided to use the Dallas Cowboys version as my test run, if you will.

Basically, I have to come up with 1,000 words a day, which wouldn't be much of an issue if I was writing in any sort of a regular style, but these are trivia books. I also need to get a working draft done by the end of the month, so my work is cut out for me over the next couple of weeks before bowl practices get under way (in addition to that whole Christmas thing).

I haven't come up with a name yet, but will soon. Maybe something with the word ultimate or something similar. My fear is that the questions I'm coming up with are too hard, so I'll try and balance it out a little and make the difficulty more progressive.

In other news, I submitted by Heisman ballot late tonight. Voters are asked not to disclose their ballot and just like last year I will not. Considering all the off-field turmoil it should make for an interesting week.

Finally, a new book deal

So after a nice little break as an author, I'm jumping back into it with three small NFL books that will come out next summer. Basically, my publisher asked me to out together some well-done trivia books for the Minnesota Vikings, Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers.

For those of you who don't know, I hail from Minnesota and have long joked that my dad said "It's a Vikings fan" before "It's a boy." Then again, maybe he did say that. He also had season tickets until the team moved inside the Metrodome.

I have no format, theme or name yet, but I'll start putting that together next week.

I hope it's not a bad omen that two of those three teams have already fired their coaches this season.

For those of you scoring at home, they'll be books No. 15, 16 and 17.

Still waiting on books, but more sales rankings:

Yep, I'm still waiting to hear from some people about the future of the Huddle Up series, but in the meantime here are the latest rankings.

There's new No. 1 in the series:

1. New York Giants

2. Alabama

3. Ohio State

4. Texas

5. Michigan

6. Notre Dame

7. Oklahoma

8. Tennessee

I can't believe Lane Kiffin didn't result in more sales. Yeah, right.

So here are the overall rankings in sales:

1. 100 Things Crimson Tide Fans Should Know or Do Before They Die

2. Where Football is King: A History of the SEC

3. Crimson Storm Surge: Alabama Football Then and Now

4. Huddle Up: New York Giants

5. Huddle Up: Alabama

6. Huddle Up: Ohio State

7. Huddle Up: Texas

8. Huddle Up: Michigan

9. Who's No. 1? 100-Plus Years of Controversial Champions in College Football

10. Huddle Up: Notre Dame

11. Huddle Up: Oklahoma

12. Huddle Up: Tennessee

13. No Time Outs: What It's Really Like to Be a Sportswriter Today

14. Return to Glory: The Story of Alabama's 2008 Season (NA).