This week we released the seventh edition of Take Control of iCloud, making it our first seventh edition. That book now covers not only Catalina, iOS 13, and iPadOS 13, but also Big Sur, iOS 14, and iPadOS 14 (to the extent that we know about them so far based on the public betas). We also released version 1.3 of Take Control of DEVONthink 3, to keep it current with the constantly evolving app.
A casual observer might think that sounds reasonably productive, but in fact, this was the roughest week I’ve had in a long time. As I write this, it’s about 6:40 in the morning and I’ve already been awake for nearly four hours. That’s because our youngest son, who has had lifelong sleep issues, decided he was finished sleeping for the night at 2:50 a.m. and has kept me awake ever since. That’s as awful as it sounds, but in fact it’s far preferable to what had been the case for several weeks previously—frequent violent outbursts and self-harming behavior—before a change in his medications.
Besides dealing with a special-needs kid and sleep deprivation, we’ve had what I’ll politely call significant home maintenance issues this week that were incredibly disruptive. Oh, and computer problems, too.
As a result of all this, I’m way behind where I needed to be at this point on my Big Sur book, and my brain is having trouble with even basic processing tasks. If I can get some rest and find a way to concentrate within the next couple of days, we might still be able to pull off releasing that book (and our iOS 14/iPadOS 14 book) this month. But I’m starting to have concerns. (We have a few other releases on our docket for the month, too, but I can’t say much more about them today.)
Last but not least, my Take Control to-do list shrank from 96 items to 95, but only because I realized one of the items had become irrelevant.