It’s been a great couple of weeks.  There’s just no way I can possibly thank everyone both at Microsoft and outside for the kind words and good wishes.  And also for the new opportunities that have popped up!  I’m now a free agent and certainly still evaluating the future so please get in touch.

What’s been the most fun however has been the questions and speculation.  So let me for a moment answer the top frequently asked questions from the past 2 weeks since the announcement I am leaving Microsoft.

OMG ARE YOU MOVING BACK TO DALLAS?

No Mom. We love Seattle.  My plan is to stay here if I can.

No one just leaves their job like that, were you forced out/asked to resign?

People who ask this I think don’t really understand how corporations work.  The short answer is: absolutely not.  If Microsoft wanted me gone, it would be as simple as showing me the door.  As I mentioned in my previous blog post this was a personal decision and it was completely amicable with the company.

Why doesn’t Xbox LIVE use true two factor authentication for account security?

That is an excellent question for the Windows Live ID team.

Are you going to work for Sony/Apple/Nintendo/Google/Amazon?

I have no plans to announce at this time.  A number of great opportunities are currently being evaluated and out of respect for the people who made them available I’m not saying anything more.  The short answer though is that for now I currently have no plans other than to take some time off and enjoy the company of my family and friends.

Will you stay in the games industry?

That looks very much to be the case, given the options presented so far.  However I’m open to just about anything I feel I can devote passion to.

Why were you so mean to Jonathan Blow on the Giantbomb e3 podcast?

***

How in the world did you manage to keep your cool with that insufferable Jonathan Blow during the Giantbomb e3 podcast?

I love this question(s).  Shortly after the podcast, Jonathan offered us a ride back to the area of LA downtown where e3 is held, it was hardly an angry situation.  Jonathan is one of the few developers I will say “shut up and take my money” before he even tells me what the game is about.  The podcast was an actual conversation in a room about a set of real things.  I find the accusation that myself or @thevowel were shills to be funny, because the thing we were most worried about during that conversation was that we were drifting too far away from what people on the podcast wanted to hear about at e3 like the Wii U or Uncharted 3, etc.  We didn’t intend to get mired in the details of Xbox.  I love the Bombcast and would love to be a guest again.  I’m a huge fan.

Long story short, there was actually no bad blood there, and it’s entertaining to see people speculate.

Were you just a shill or did you actually do something on Xbox LIVE?

Despite twittering like a mad twitter monkey, press or public engagement was about 15-20% of my role.  The rest was actually working on either enforcement or actual new features and Xbox or LIVE specific functionality.

Who’s replacing you, who do we go to about security issues or enforcement issues on Xbox LIVE?

I do not know, at this time the company has not announced an individual for those questions.

Would you ever go back to Microsoft?

Absolutely without hesitation, if the opportunity was right.

Will you speak at my event/grant me an interview/be on my podcast?

Maybe!  I’m now a free agent with all sorts of thoughts.  Just send me an email with "[MEDIA REQUEST]" or "[EVENT REQUEST]" in the subject line to stepto at stepto.com and I will look your request over.

Why did you *really* leave Microsoft?

Like I have said, it was a personal decision.  The company has a lot going for it and I’m not interested in being one of those people who leave then are prone to lobbing hand grenades over the wall from the outside. Microsoft has publicly wished me well in my future endeavors, and I likewise remain excited about the future of the company and especially about the future of Xbox and Xbox LIVE.

 

So there it is.  And I totally came home tonight and flopped in a chair and said “Well, I’m back.” from my last day on this epic journey.  Tomorrow the house sitters/dog sitters arrive in the morning and we’re off to Dallas and then off to our cruise.

I plan to drink rum drinks, and laugh with my friends.  Rochelle and I are going to go snorkeling in the sun and visit an ostrich farm. There will be plenty of Rock Band, and board games and the ritual smoking of Cuban cigars in sight of Cuba itself.  Then after we say goodbye to our Internet friends, we’ll meet up with my brother Jeff and go visit NASA.

And we’ll come back to Seattle. We’ll play with our dogs in the valley, check email for the first time in weeks.

And the next phase will begin.

Rochelle and I dropped everything and left for the peninsula.  For many years now the fine folks at Chevy Chase Beach Cabins have been providing us with our favorite vacation spot, and we just couldn’t stay in the house one minute longer with all its reminders of Remington. We’d been going to Discovery Bay for years with Buddy and Adia.  Remington only got to visit there one time, so we felt it would be a safe place to reflect and to focus on the other two dogs.

It felt really good to get away.  I didn’t realize just how much being at home was actually stressing me out during the whole ordeal, because my life had been turned upside down.  People afflicted by or having to care for anyone (be it person or animal) they care about who has a life threatening disease have to adjust to “the new normal.”  And I had done just that for a month. Remy was limited to the first floor of the house and had to be under 24/7 supervision so for the past month we’ve been sleeping on an air mattress, having to let him out every couple of hours due to his medication.  I don’t regret anything at all, he had a 90% normal quality of life for an entire month, and that’s somewhat of a miracle for a dog with his particular form of immune mediated disease. But I was under tremendous stress as well, and when he died it all came crashing down.  I just lost it.  I never dreamed it would be so difficult, because he beat the odds for so long.

After all of that and even trying to integrate work back into my life,  turning off the Internet for a while and playing with the dogs in the ocean was definitely a medkit for the soul. Then via a text message I received the word of the death of Steve Jobs. I remembered so many memorable things Jobs did for technology, one stood out: “Real artists ship.”  I had brought my recording equipment with me, thinking if I felt up to it, I’d finish the audiobook and begin post production.

Well, I finished most of the recording and am nearly done with production on the audio version of A Microsoft Life.  It felt kind of fun to turn a room in the cabin into a makeshift studio, and I think my emotional state actually produced much better readings.  The investment in a Blue Yeti Microphone setup resulted in a much richer sound in combination with the wood floors and ceiling of the cabin’s interior. I’m really happy with how it turned out. I still plan to split the proceeds between recouping some of the cost of Remy’s treatment and Child’s Play, now that he’s gone I will most likely just increase the percentage that goes to Child’s Play.  I will make a formal announcement about the Audiobook on Monday 10.10.11 (cause I like that date) letting everyone know expected availability, price, and features. So for that and so many other things, thanks Remy.  And thanks Steve*.

This is sort of the cap to the entire Remington event in our lives. To the wonderful staff at Seattle Veterinary Specialists in Kirkland: Thank you so very much, from us and from Remington.  I credit a lot of his beating the odds for so long to your wonderful care and guidance.  You told us how much you had all fallen in love with him, and even though he never went to your hospital of his own choice, he came to recognize it and wag his tail when he came in the front door because you took such good care of him.

I’d also like to thank all of you reading this.  The comments and tweets and emails were just amazing.  I was overwhelmed at the first day’s download of mail.  Your wonderful words and remembrance of Remy’s life touched me immensely. I recorded a special message for you on this weeks Major Nelson Radio episode.

So. I’m back.

I return to work full time Monday (again) but this time with no distractions. And there’s something on the horizon I can’t discuss just yet because I don’t want to jinx it, except to say it will be a fitting and upbeat epilogue to the sad ending Remy’s life had.

Oh and that joy I was looking for?  Found it:

* I’ve read a lot of Steve Jobs reflections this week.  This one is the best.  And this is the single best image.

Rochelle and I dropped everything and left for the peninsula.  For many years now the fine folks at Chevy Chase Beach Cabins have been providing us with our favorite vacation spot, and we just couldn’t stay in the house one minute longer with all its reminders of Remington. We’d been going to Discovery Bay for years with Buddy and Adia.  Remington only got to visit there one time, so we felt it would be a safe place to reflect and to focus on the other two dogs.

It felt really good to get away.  I didn’t realize just how much being at home was actually stressing me out during the whole ordeal, because my life had been turned upside down.  People afflicted by or having to care for anyone (be it person or animal) they care about who has a life threatening disease have to adjust to “the new normal.”  And I had done just that for a month. Remy was limited to the first floor of the house and had to be under 24/7 supervision so for the past month we’ve been sleeping on an air mattress, having to let him out every couple of hours due to his medication.  I don’t regret anything at all, he had a 90% normal quality of life for an entire month, and that’s somewhat of a miracle for a dog with his particular form of immune mediated disease. But I was under tremendous stress as well, and when he died it all came crashing down.  I just lost it.  I never dreamed it would be so difficult, because he beat the odds for so long.

After all of that and even trying to integrate work back into my life,  turning off the Internet for a while and playing with the dogs in the ocean was definitely a medkit for the soul. Then via a text message I received the word of the death of Steve Jobs. I remembered so many memorable things Jobs did for technology, one stood out: “Real artists ship.”  I had brought my recording equipment with me, thinking if I felt up to it, I’d finish the audiobook and begin post production.

Well, I finished most of the recording and am nearly done with production on the audio version of A Microsoft Life.  It felt kind of fun to turn a room in the cabin into a makeshift studio, and I think my emotional state actually produced much better readings.  The investment in a Blue Yeti Microphone setup resulted in a much richer sound in combination with the wood floors and ceiling of the cabin’s interior. I’m really happy with how it turned out. I still plan to split the proceeds between recouping some of the cost of Remy’s treatment and Child’s Play, now that he’s gone I will most likely just increase the percentage that goes to Child’s Play.  I will make a formal announcement about the Audiobook on Monday 10.10.11 (cause I like that date) letting everyone know expected availability, price, and features. So for that and so many other things, thanks Remy.  And thanks Steve*.

This is sort of the cap to the entire Remington event in our lives. To the wonderful staff at Seattle Veterinary Specialists in Kirkland: Thank you so very much, from us and from Remington.  I credit a lot of his beating the odds for so long to your wonderful care and guidance.  You told us how much you had all fallen in love with him, and even though he never went to your hospital of his own choice, he came to recognize it and wag his tail when he came in the front door because you took such good care of him.

I’d also like to thank all of you reading this.  The comments and tweets and emails were just amazing.  I was overwhelmed at the first day’s download of mail.  Your wonderful words and remembrance of Remy’s life touched me immensely. I recorded a special message for you on this weeks Major Nelson Radio episode.

So. I’m back.

I return to work full time Monday (again) but this time with no distractions. And there’s something on the horizon I can’t discuss just yet because I don’t want to jinx it, except to say it will be a fitting and upbeat epilogue to the sad ending Remy’s life had.

Oh and that joy I was looking for?  Found it:

* I’ve read a lot of Steve Jobs reflections this week.  This one is the best.  And this is the single best image.

I’m finding it difficult to believe it’s a mere two weeks from e3.  I’m lucky, I’ve only ever attended e3 since the great e3 collapse in 2007.  So I have not yet learned to hate it like Van Halen fans hate Van Hagar, or [INSERT THE OPPOSITE OF YOUR POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY] hates freedom.

Like most of us at Xbox I’m crazy busy in preparation.  But I thought I would also provide an update on some personal projects currently underway as well.

I’m very excited to formally announce that I am working on an audio version of my book, A Microsoft Life.  Much like the Kindle and Nook versions of the book I have been surprised by the number of requests for an audio version. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your perspective) the audio version of the book will be an abridged version.  This was a very difficult decision to make because when I find out an audio version of a book I enjoy is abridged I get upset, because I typically want the content in its entirety and I’m willing to take the time to listen to it all.  However, I think it is the right choice for this book because of three key reasons.  First, in two places in the book I transcript speeches I have given.  It makes no sense, in my mind, to record those again given they are readily available on Youtube.  Second, a couple of stories rely on visual gags that would be impossible to do in an audiobook.  Lastly, there are certain stories, specifically Hennessey, that I will not be able to get through reading aloud without crying like a gassy baby.

However, taking this into account I am working on surprises and extra content that I think will make the audiobook something that both people who own the book already will enjoy, along with new “readers” who have been waiting for a listenable version.  Therefore, I am please to make announce the title of the audiobook is: “A Microsoft Life: The Audiobook Expanded Edition with Bonus Material and Surprises (Abridged)”  I’m going to be rehearsing pretty much all this week and starting the initial recording next weekend.  My goal to make it broadly available is dependent on some of the special surprises but a summertime release is the time table.

I’m hard at work on my second book, A Geekster’s Paradise. Like my first book this will be non fiction stories and articles about, well about being a geek.  The timetable for my second book is Winter 2011 and it will most likely be larger than my first book.

Lastly, and this is the part I’m so scared to talk about I just peed a little, is that I am working on a fiction project. It will be a collection of short stories and it is titled “After: A Collection of Stories Following The Events of 2.12.14”  The overall length is around 25,000 words so it’s not very long. In fact, you can read the rough draft of the first story RIGHT NOW.  It’s a project I have been having a LOT of fun with in my head, and I’m really worried and really excited to share it with you.  Look for this project to land hopefully sometime between the release of the audiobook of A Microsoft Life and my second book.  The format for release is yet to be finalized, but it will most likely be primarily ebook with a limited edition (meaning I will only make so many) hardback edition.

So that catches us up to now at least. Now I go back to LA Noire.  You are playing LA Noire right?

I’m writing this in part because I think it’s important to be transparent about what goes on in deciding you’re going to charge for something over giving it away, and what you set the price at. I’m not saying everyone has to agree with that statement, but I think it only helps new creators who want to self publish to understand what goes into asking people FOR TEH MONEYZ. I’ve had many people ask me about how I came to the price points for my books, or what I have on my site for advertising and why. After a recent review of some non-Microsoft income so that I could speak to lessons learned, I thought it might be a good time to talk about it here.

I’m always a little leery about advertising on my blog, or advertising at all as a matter of fact.  I never wanted the fact that I have a small following of truly nice people who are interested in what I have to say mean that I can feel I should make money off them. Plus Independent of my outside content creation, Microsoft certainly supplies me with a wage for my services.  In general, I’m very lucky to be where I am financially and certainly have no cause to get greedy about anything.

So when I actually sat down to try and figure out the price of my book, or when I bought a new server for my blog and moved to pay a co-lo fee in addition to my home Internet use to handle increased traffic, I had to weigh how much I wanted to provide out of my pocket just for the enjoyment of writing and doing Internet stuff so to speak, and what I would ever have to do with all that if I ever wanted to do something else for a while. In the end I made a decision that I wanted, at a minimum, for everything I was doing as a “hobby” for an audience to pay for itself in the event I was unable to pay for it otherwise.

So there are an associated set of costs to running a blog like mine, which receives a meager but still substantial tens of thousands of visits a day, as well as thinking about growth and time spent maintaining it.  There are other costs in publishing your work and making sure it’s of a quality that earns its price. When you tally it all up It’s not a lot, but there’s one thing I’ve learned in the new world of self-marketing and self-publishing: If you are afraid to analyze your costs against your goals and then ask for compensation against those factors, then congratulations you might as well be a graffiti artist.

Nothing against graffiti artists mind you.  There’s even a business in it I guess, but that’s few and far between and runs the risk of arrest.

I am enough of a capitalist to be ok with the concept of working hard, providing some stuff for free, then charging for the rest. The hardest part of this model is getting over asking people for money in return for what you create. And make no mistake, it’s actually damn hard to get over that.

I look at my blog as a staging area to figure out several things.  First, is the audience interested.  Second, is the content worth something as a starting place for something larger.  Third, does it actually entertain or interest me enough to do it.

Think of my blog as a place where you can almost always find the rough draft, or Cliff Notes versions of most of my writing for free.  To that end, I want the blog to pay for itself, no more. So for the blog I redesigned it recently to both highlight my book (and future books) and I also added an Google Adsense badge.  To further supplement blog costs, which again are rather trivial, I also occasionally link items I have bought via Amazon on Twitter as I am an Amazon Associate.

I’ve made a kind of peace with being an Amazon affiliate because I never advertise something that I didn’t buy or own myself. It brings in just enough typically per month to pay my Co-location fee. I quickly grew irritated and disenchanted with Google Adsense.  The badge never fit right in my page column and it never offered anything that anyone reading my blog would even begin to care about despite my configuring the topics.  Today I replaced it with a solution I LOVE.

Anyone who reads my twitter or the entries here on the blog knows I love music.  Between Zune marketplace, iTunes, and Amazon all offering .MP3 options that are DRM free, I feel comfortable pointing to those locations to purchase music.  Amazon’s Affiliate program allows me to put a badge on my site where I can advertise the last .MP3’s I bought from them.  In affect allowing me to have ad space on my site that is going to be far more relevant to my readers (hopeful) interest, but also allowing me to share great music I love and not feel like I’m shilling or shoving an ad for the latest “weird old trick to slimming your stomach” on people. The new badge off to the side lets you listen to the music as well.

I still need to do some fiddling, as I can either use music I have bought or select categories which would allow me to discover some on my own too. But for now I feel really good about promoting only things I myself purchased, in one of my favorite genres, music.

Setting the price of my book was a similar challenge. I had to rate it against what I thought the quality was for the content, the length in words, different editions, and what other’s were charging for similar content. In the end my goals weren’t to finance a new house or anything off the book.  I knew the topic was niche enough that it was never going to be a New York Times Best Seller ™.  So I settled on a tier of prices: one price for eBook that I felt was within the market range and provided options both DRM and not, and another price for softback and hardback within the same range. I’m not sure I hit it as best I could, but I certainly learned a lot and the pricing was absolutely not a failure. One thing I learned, Kindle is a HUGE sales platform.  I’ve sold more on that platform than any other. Second place was Hardback, and third place was a near tie between softcover and Nook.  Last place?  DRM free PDF.  Who’d a thunk it?

So I hope this is a little informative about what someone who has a day job thinks about when setting about how I am going to limit the financial impact to my family of my crazy Internet things. These are the things you think about when you are striking out as the Internet equivalent of a street vendor.

For my part sure I’d love to have hit the big money, no whammies jackpot between my blog and my book.  Who wouldn’t?  But I’m happy that people enjoy the blog and the book, and in the end throw enough coins my way to make sure I can keep doing it.  And it’s important to note that this model works for me because, again I am fortunate enough to have a day job.  The model can easily change when you make the big leap to leave that behind and focus on this type of thing full time.  In the end however, I’m happy the way things have turned out so far.

Thanks guys.  I really do appreciate it.