UX Brighton is just a couple of weeks away. Last year’s event was diverse and interesting, and it’ll be a pleasure to welcome a largely homegrown set of speakers to the best city in the country. 4 November, with a few tickets still available from £129.

I was also thrilled to be asked to speak at Breaking Development Conference in Orlando, Florida, after I harvested every last drop of goodness that I could find about the 2011 conference. Other speakers include Ethan Marcotte, PPK, Josh Clark, Stephanie Rieger, and other folks at the top of the mobile web game. I’m currently wondering whether I can sneak in a quick visit to Disney World afterward. 16–18 April, early bird tickets $1195.

Then, at last, I get to check out what why everyone speaks so highly of UX Lx, next May in Lisbon. This year’s speakers include JJG, Josh Porter, Mike Kuniavsky, and Peter Morville. I’ll be talking about the Undercover UX approach, and probably how it links in with Lean. Tickets will be on sale shortly, starting at €595.

In addition, I’ve a couple of client projects hopefully going live, and an article in the next edition of The Manual. Things are also falling into place for Designing the Wider Web, which I’ll be writing full-time during my winter hibernation. I’ll try my best to avoid the slide into bloated alcoholism and psychotic reclusion the profession seems to demand.

My mind turns to the fate of the books I write. I want them to be nurtured and handed down through generations. Kept in natural light and controlled humidity until a far-future fingerprint releases them for 25th-century superbeings. But I also want my books to be abused. Ripped, dog-eared and spat on. I want broken spines, corrections and appalling profanity. I want them to be discovered in dusty charity shops and used to prop up poker tables.

I want my books to be loved.

My first major project is fascinating, working alongside smart, experienced people on a cross-device curation service that offers real potential. I’m learning a great deal and hopefully offering a lot too. But the book is still the thing. Client work now is a means of avoiding client work later, so I can dedicate myself to the role of full-time writer.

To that end, it’s great to announce that Designing the Wider Web will be published this winter by the good-looking folk at Five Simple Steps. Their previous releases are already staples of the digital design canon, and it’s marvellous to be working with a UK-based team so committed to quality.

I’m itching to get started full-time, but right now I’m having so much fun that a few more weeks is worth the wait.

After three terrific years, I’m leaving Clearleft next month.

A couple of reasons, the most significant being that I’m about to embark on my second book. More on that soon. I’ve already endured the stress of writing while holding down a full-time role, and it’s not something I wish to repeat. Nor is it fair to ask an employer to tolerate my resultant irritability and wavering focus. And while Clearleft is a truly exceptional company, its size and flat hierarchy understandably doesn’t scale to my more grandiose ambitions. So I’m hitting the road of self-employment, in search of the freedom and flexibility that accompanies minor terror. I’m sad at the thought of leaving such a great team, but the time is right. “L’audace, l’audace, toujours l’audace” and all that.

Although it’s tempting to don the disguise of lonely, starving writer for a few months, I’m too pampered. So I’ll be looking for a few choice freelance projects to pay the rent and preserve my modest savings. After the book, I have no plans. Maybe self-employment will suit me, or I may choose to look for the right permanent role. Somehow, the fluidity’s comforting.

I’d be grateful if you could spread the word of my freelance availability from 31 May. Ideally, I’m after short (1–4 weeks) interaction / UX design projects that pay respectable senior-level day rates. See LinkedIn for my up-to-date CV. If you have a project that may suit, please let me know at email@cennydd.co.uk. Similarly, if you have an interesting long-term prospect, including permanent roles this winter, do get in touch. My options are open.

Finally, keep an eye out for the book. With any luck, it’ll be worth all the effort.

Image by Chris Summerlin, from Undercover User Experience Design.

First, I’m happy to have contributed a chapter to the new book UX Storytellers, curated by Jan Jursa and available now for free download.

In this free eBook, ‘UX Storytellers – Connecting the Dots’, 42 UX masterminds tell personal stories of their exciting lives as User Experience professionals. The book brings together authors from around the world who paint a very entertaining picture of our multifaceted community.

Whether you’re a usability pro or a student of interaction design, whether you’re a senior information architect or a junior UX designer, you will find 42 entertaining stories in this book told by leading experts from all over the globe.

My contribution relates a painful defeat at the hands of mysterious statistical forces. Other authors include Andrew Hinton, Martin Belam and Andrea Resmini, and my early impressions are that it’s a skillfully-compiled and interesting book, well worth your attention.

Thursday 11 November sees the annual return of the well-meaning, if somewhat daft, World Usability Day. This year, we’re donating the entire day’s revenue from our Silverback usability testing application to the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. So if you haven’t already tried Silverback—it really is pretty good, you know—buy your license on Thursday and send some love to the gorillas. Silverback will also be available as part of the Optimal Workshop World Usability Day bundle, which includes OptimalSort, the very useful Treejack, Ethnio, Loop11 and a full set of Rosenfeld books for $1,350. Again, we’ll be passing on our revenue to the Gorilla Fund.

Ticket sales for UX London are marching on. The new Super Early Bird rate is gone, but Non-super Bird tickets are available at £895, the same price as last year. Speakers this year include Lou Rosenfeld, Alan Cooper, Matt Jones, Kim Goodwin, Todd Zaki Warfel and Russ Unger.

In other conference news, I’ll be speaking twice at SXSW next March. I’ll join James to discuss The Music of Interaction Design, and debut a solo presentation entitled The Real-Time Sporting Revolution. Expect statistics, ubicomp, chess and a smattering of information design. Update: It appears SXSW don’t like people appearing twice, so I’ve had to sacrifice this solo panel. Maybe next year.

Finally, you may notice a little advert in the sidebar. I’ve resisted advertising for a long time but have decided to take the small leap to help with hosting costs and my growing fineliner addiction. In AdPacks, I think I’ve found a company that understands the UX industry and whose advertisers are genuinely relevant. I’m pleased with how well this ad integrates with the site, but if it causes any problems do let me know.

Once you catch the user experience bug, the world changes. Doors open the wrong way, websites don’t work, and companies don’t seem to care. Fortunately, anyone can learn the UX remedies – usability testing, personas, prototyping and so on – but, unless your organization ‘gets it’, putting them into practice is trickier.

Undercover User Experience will show you how to do great UX work with tiny budgets, no time, and even without official clearance.

The idea came about in a Utrecht hotel, where James and I got talking about the early stages of our careers, when we didn’t have the luxury of doings things ‘by the book’. Through the IA Institute mentoring scheme I’ve met several people in the same situation. For them, what makes UX work difficult isn’t lack of skill, but not knowing how to make headway in companies that don’t appreciate the need. Pioneering UX and inspiring colleagues who’ve never cared about design takes improvisation, persistence and diplomacy. So we’ll cover guerrilla approaches to the UX techniques we know and love, along with frank advice on how to make them most of them in your business.

On a personal note, I’m thrilled to be partnering with New Riders. They were our first choice publisher due to their outstanding UX portfolio, including the classics Don’t Make Me Think!, Designing for Interaction and Elements of User Experience.

The writing experience is already demanding and rewarding. There’s been much to-ing and fro-ing over titles and much confusion over the US tax system and self-assessment, but we’re well under way and hoping to wrap the writing up by June.

But enough – I’ve no wish to turn this blog into a marketing vehicle. If you want to keep up to date with our progress and be the first to hear when the book’s due out, follow UndercoverUX on Twitter or visit the Undercover User Experience website and sign up for updates.