Busy as a bee

I've been keeping busy with other projects and real life, so I haven't been able to update this blog as often as I would like. There are a few pieces of news worth reporting:

1. A while ago I started a book [[Editing Wikitext]] as a way to replace our decidedly un-book-like help pages. It sat as a stub for a while, but is now being worked by a relatively new Wikibookian, User:Armchair. Instead of the "a little bit here and a little bit there" approach that I use because of my short attention span, Armchair has been focusing on one chapter at a time, turning each into a carefully-crafted masterwork. Not all chapters have gotten the royal treatment yet, but those that have are looking great. He is doing a great job of speaking to readers of all levels, from the most green newbie to the most experienced wikitexters. Definitely worth a read (and a contribute!).
2. Another book that is relatively new (in comparison to some of our older tomes) is [[MIRC Scripting]]. MIRC is a popular IRC client for Windows users. Many of our IRC-capable Wikimedians probably use it it. User:PiemanXC has been doing a great job on this book, and I personally have learned a lot from it! Using MIRC? PiemanXC can help you take your experience to the next level.
   
3. The [[C++ Programming]] book is an older book of ours, and has seen it's share of ups and downs. Currently, the book has two separate pages that serve as the Table of Contents. These two pages differ in the order of material covered and in aesthetics. This is a cool demonstration that wiki isn't paper, and that we can do things that traditional books can't do.
4. Wikimedian par excellence Durova has started a cool-looking new book on [[Image Restoration]] that no doubt includes some of her Commons-related expertise. It's a very cool-looking book so far, and likely to be of immediate practical benefit to our cousins over at Commons.
   
5. We have lots of new books, as usual. New ones pop up every day. Stop on by, see what all we've got, and find something good to read.
   

Fifth Anniversary

The fifth anniversary of the Wikibooks project is coming up this month, and in honor of it I'm trying to round up a few people to guest-post to this blog. I would like to find people who are current or past Wikibookians to talk about their experiences at the project, and their insights about how Wikibooks has changed and where the project might be heading.

If you are interested, or if you know somebody else who is, please let me know.