I started focusing all my time on being an Apple II hobbyist, dropped out of grad school to go to work for Apple in August of '79.
I published on the web about 60 anecdotes about the development of the Mac in time for the Mac's 20th birthday in 2004. And that led to a book.
In those days I was a grad student in computer science and I liked to get to the bottom of all the systems I worked on, but you weren't allowed to.
Working long hours being single helps because your time is yours. Once you have a family your time isn't all yours anymore. Most of the Mac team, we were in our mid-20's, most of us were single, and we were able to essentially devote our lives to it.