Microsoft Visual Studio Tips Book Helps Hurricane Katrina Survivors Rebuild Lives

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I am very proud to announce the Amazon pre-sale of my first book Microsoft Visual Studio Tips.  Here you’ll find the best 251 tips from the Tip of the Day series, categorized and edited into a reference book with me as your narrator.

Microsoft Visual Studio Tips book from Microsoft Press

But wait, there’s more…

I am donating 100% of my author book royalties to create a scholarship fund at the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College for anyone living in my hometown of Waveland, Mississippi, which was destroyed during Hurricane Katrina. The Save Waveland Scholarship Fund will give preference to math and computer science majors.

USA Today referred to Waveland as The Town That Vanished. After witnessing the devastation first hand six weeks after the storm, I vowed that I would one day do something that would make a difference. With Microsoft matching the donation, I feel that day is today.

This photo was taken on August 3, 2008 in front of Waveland City Hall, just one month shy of the three year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

From The People Of Waveland: In appreciation and gratitude to all who gave of their time, energy, and money to help us recover from Hurricane Camille. On August 17, 1969 our city was devastated, but those who cared came to her rescue.

I was raised with the belief that community is about being excellent to each other, which is why I did the Tip of the Day series in my spare time. This book and this donation are my way of connecting the community I came from with the community I work in. In my life I’ve always had a quest for knowledge, which has brought me to writing this post today. Now, this scholarship fund will help others pursue their own quests.

Special thanks to Rob Caron and Sean Laberee for inspiring me to do the Tip of the Day series, to Jim Newkirk for all the book-writing advice, to Ben Ryan, Devon Musgrave, and Melissa von Tschudi-Sutton at Microsoft Press for the guidance in my first publication, to Dylan Lingelbach, Sean Laberee, Fiona Fung, Chris McGuire, Josh Stevens, Noah Coad, Habib Heydarian, Monica Boris, Douglas Hodges, Pat Brenner, Rahul Jajoo, and Rob Caron for being peer reviewers under such a tight schedule, to Charlie Calvert for pulling me through speaking at TechEd while working on this book’s proposal, to Bryan Kirschner for pulling me through speaking at OSCON while working on this book, to Ruby Kane for the assistance writing this blog post, and to the entire CodePlex team for sharing an office with me the entire time.

Go Sara Go.