First off, congratulations to Mohammed AlQuraishi for the paper! Carrying out a big project like that and seeing it through to completion is a solid achievement.<p>> The fact that [writing the paper] consumed so much is a little disconcerting, and suggests, for me at least, that writing a paper is a major commitment.<p>I think the amount of time needed to write is something people generally underestimate the first time they write a scientific paper (I certainly did). It is a bigger undertaking that most people expect. There is a lot of writing, editing, rewriting, etc.[0], and it takes a lot of time and effort. I am not the first person to say this, but I think most people (in science at least) underestimate the importance of writing and so underestimate how much time it takes.<p>But I do not think it should necessarily be "disconcerting". The author goes on to say this, and I agree: sharing the results of the research is very important. I would even go so far as to say it is as important as doing the research (if the research is not spread to others, it difficult to make use of). So putting in the time to effectively communicate the process and results is critical. For some types of projects, I could envision the writing taking _more_ time than the actual research, in order to effectively communicate the research.<p>[0] I have tracked the text of one of my current papers in git since I began writing it; once it is finally published, it would be interesting to go back and look at how the text evolved with time. How much did I write in comparison to the amount of text that survived to the published form? How long do passages "survive" in the draft before being edited or removed?