Getting otf fonts working, getting images working and properly positioned, getting alternating left-right headers to behave themselves, especially at a chapter start. Every new thing involved going back to ctan (I had high hopes for memoir) or searching online in the hopes that someone took the time to write down how they did it. Most of the time you'd just find "how to make your math formulas look pretty" or "how to typeset your thesis"
You'd think that typesetting a novel would be a gimme, but in the current ecosystem (tex or otherwise) it's a shambles.
You'd think that typesetting a novel would be a gimme, but in the current ecosystem (tex or otherwise) it's a shambles.