Two years ago, I was involved in a worthwhile project that produced a book called SQL Server MVP Deep Dives – a collection of chapters written by 50 or so fellow MVPs, assembled in a single volume and sold to the masses. The unique component of this project was that no author or editor took a single penny – most of the proceeds went to charity (Manning Publications understandably withheld operational expenses). The charity we chose was War Child International (web | wikipedia), and as of January we had raised over $21,000. (Read more about our little project.)

This year I am pleased to announce that we have collaborated on a second volume of SQL Server MVP Deep Dives. The charity we agreed on this time around is Operation Smile (web | wikipedia), who "provides cleft lip and palate repair surgeries to children worldwide, assists countries in reaching self-sufficiency with these surgeries, and works to reduce the occurrence of cleft lips and palates." We are certainly hoping to match and even exceed the funds we have been able to raise for War Child over the past two years.

We had different limitations this time around: maximum one chapter per author, and maximum 12 pages per chapter. My chapter is an abbreviated version of my presentation and blog series on T-SQL Bad Habits to Kick. But many things remain the same: more than enough MVPs are on board, Manning is stepping up again to assist with publication, and the authors and editors are once again going to defer all proceeds to the selected charity. I hope you are as excited as I am and are looking forward to this second version.