Too Familiar

I've been working on rewriting my Cocoa Book for The Pragmatic Bookshelf and my editor is finding two errors that I consistently make because I am too familiar with the material. These remind me of Type I and Type II errors from statistics. 

In stats a Type I error happens when you reject the null hypothesis even though it was true. A Type II error happens in the other direction: you accept the null hypothesis even though it was false. As an aside,  figuring out the probability of a Type I error is easier than figuring out that of a Type II since we know which curve we are looking at.

In writing I find that the problem is the difference between what is in my head and what is on the page. In a Type I writing error I have said the same thing more than once. When I read the second instance of it, it looks familiar but I think that that's just because I've read this part before and not because I've read the contents of the part somewhere else. Although this is annoying to the reader, it is not particularly confusing.

A Type II error occurs when what is in my head doesn't make it to the page. I refer to something that I've covered before even though I haven't actually written it down--I've just thought about it. This is both annoying and confusing to the reader.

These and other problems I'm having with revising this book have to do with approaching my material with the fresh eyes of a reader who is new to it. That is my current struggle both as an author and as an editor. There are books I've edited where we've revised the material so many times and it has come so far that I'm looking at the content relative to where it started instead of in relation to where it needs to end up.

I'd love suggestions on how you "keep it fresh" in your daily work.

Comments

[Chris Adamson]

In a similar vein, I've heard it said that when a video game is too hard, it's usually a sign that it's had a long development cycle: the developers and testers get too used to the early levels, familiarity breeds contempt, and so they throw in extra stuff to make the game more interesting to themselves, not being able to feel what it will be like when newbies play the game for the first time.

[Daniel]

I try to keep my ideas fresh by having my wife review stuff. She is not in technology so if I can convey it to her I know I am on the right track. An idea is pretty clear when a person that is not a subject matter expert can understand the basics of what you have said. It also helps you think about how to explain this to someone with no background because you really do have to start at square one. Hope that helps.

[Acekard 2i]

The Acekard 2i uses a spring mechanism to load the Micro-SD card slot which is occasionally frowned upon by the community as being less reliable than a standard push slot.

[r4itt]

For playing game, r4itt users have to drag and drop all the game files on to the micro sd card and then start enjoying this game. r4itt supports the any range of micro sd card. My sims can be watched by the whole family as its theme revolves so closely around a family structure.

[acekard 2i]

The Acekard 2i uses a spring mechanism to load the Micro-SD card slot which is occasionally frowned upon by the community as being less reliable than a standard push slot.