27 Oct 2026 #writing #bookwriting
Don’t start writing a book by writing a book.
It’s tempting to start your book by creating a new Google Docs and throwing words into a page. You’ll doubt every step in the process.
Start by writing about your book subject months or years in advance:
- You’ll validate your ideas even before they become your table of content.
- You’ll grow an audience to sell your book to.
After writing Street-Smart Coding, my first coding book, I write almost all my books backwards. That’s what I learned from a book experiment I ran earlier this year when I wrote 10 Surprisingly Simple Ideas That Changed My Life And Could Change Yours Too.
I start by validating ideas as posts, emails, or social media posts.
The top performing ideas will eventually become book chapters, and the ones with less performance become supporting ideas.
Once I have enough validated ideas, I come up with a book promise, title, subtitle, 1-line summary, an outline, and Amazon sales page. It sounds counterintuitive, but it forces you to clarify your messaging and packing it.
Your book will be your best ideas presented in a new format. Your real job is to become a DJ of your own ideas.
And if writing a 100-page book sounds intimidating, aim for a mini-book: a short, focused book a read could finish in a sitting that solves one problem.
If you’re curious, you’ll find my books here. Short and actionable books on coding and personal growth.
25 Oct 2026 #misc
“An angle grinder cut off my toe,” he told me.
It was at the butchery counter of my local grocery store. I hadn’t seen him in a while. I thought he was working in another rotation. I usually do my groceries in the afternoons.
“I was on sick leave for two months,” he said.
“Oh boy! I didn’t know. What happened?” Then he told me about his toe. For a second, I thought it was a simple cut that a few butterfly stitches could fix. “What actually happened?”
“The angle grinder did cut off my toe.” It wasn’t a simple cut. “I was doing some repairs at home, the angle grinder fell over, and I wasn’t wearing shoes.”
“You’re kidding, right?” I couldn’t believe him.
He simply nodded, with a big smile on his face. I had ordered two chicken breasts as usual. While he cleared the skin off the breasts, he raised his head, “I was on vacation and supposed to return in two days. My wife had told me to hire someone…“
“I guess she said, ‘I told you’,” my sister next to me told him. He kept nodding with a smile so big we could see all his teeth.
“That day I had an appointment, but I chose to stay at home… I guess when bad things happen, they simply happen.”
“Don’t worry! If you’re wearing shoes, nobody will notice it,” the guy next in line said. “If your wife chose you, one missing toe won’t change her mind,” I told him while we were all laughing.
Lesson: Always wear shoes when working with cutting tools… or hire someone who knows how to use them. More importantly, it’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it. Even if that’s losing a toe.
For more life lessons, check out 10 Surprisingly Simple Ideas That Changed My Life.
24 Oct 2026 #career
“Nobody becomes an icon without help.”
That was part of Ruben Blades’ speech when receiving the 2026 Billboard Icon Award.
Sorry, I found out by doomscrolling on Instagram.
In my defense, sometimes it gives me inspiration for ideas—like this one.
After that line, he started to mentioned a list of singers, producers, and orchestras who bet on him.
I’m not an icon, but I’ve received help from lots of people to get to where I’m at in my career.
One day, someone made an introduction for my first job.
Someone gave me a chance when I had zero experience.
Someone made another introduction when I was fired from my first job.
Someone made me sit next to him to mentor me.
Someone referred me to my highest-paying job.
Someone set aside time from his work agenda to give me advice.
Someone gave me another chance when I had a huge gap on my CV.
Those are the ones I remember from the top of my head.
I’ve never had the opportunity to say thanks to most of them.
To their eyes, their help was maybe a small act of kindness without importance.
But for me, they were defining moments in my career.
Take the time to say thank and do something small for someone today.
If this lesson resonates, you’re going to like, Career Lessons From the Trenches, my free 7-day email course where I distill 10+ years of career lessons into 7 short emails–to help you navigate your coding career.
23 Oct 2026 #mondaylinks
Hey there.
Here are 4 links I thought were worth sharing this week:
#1. Eight TLS certificates were compromised (3min) and the whole internet goes on alert.
#2. AI has exploded the amount of code written. Now imagine how fast Claude and other AI companies do it. Here’s how code review looks at scale at Anthropic (14min)
#3. Maybe you’re being “pushed” to use AI for productivity or speed, but it’s still OK to enjoy programming (4min)
#4. Now Apple removed icons next to every menu entry (2min).
And in case you missed it, and since we’re getting close to Halloween, here are the scariest lines of code I’ve written (2min).
(Bzzz…Radio voice) This email was brought to you by… Street-Smart Coding Manifesto. A case against syntax obsession. Because real impact comes from skills outside your IDE.
Keep coding smart.
See you next Friday,
Cesar
22 Oct 2026 #wellness #books
To improve my sleep, I ran an experiment before going to bed.
It was from one of Bryan Johnson’s videos where I learn to reduce my heart rate before sleeping.
That’s why I did for a week.
I measured my heart rate every 30 minutes:
After some breaths to find my baseline.
Then after some relaxing activities, like journaling, meditation, and reading.
Guess which one lowered my heart rate the most?
Reading a book.
I read fiction in my native language, to be precise.
There’s a reason why that I found when reading How reading books regulates your nervous system:
Reading involves different systems of our brain:
- Visual system to identify letters.
- Language system to give meaning to those symbols.
- Attention to keep us decoding what’s in the pages.
- Memory to store what we’re absorbing.
This coordination of systems moves you from “fight or fly” into “rest and digest.”
Which has measurable changes in your body.
Reading regulates your nervous system.
Another good reason to do it.
You can regulate yours by reading one of my books. Find them here.