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<\/p>\nBetween writing blog posts, dealing with comments, doing some birdwatching, and fitting in the rest of the day, I did a lot of thinking, dictating, typing, and editing yesterday.<\/p>\n
By the end, I had an outline for a 30,000-word book, split into 12 chapters, supported by up to 30 infographics in a simpler form than those I have been publishing here lately. I summarised all of this in the conventional form an author sends to an agent or publisher, which I have done quite a number of times in the past.<\/p>\n
I also had a title, and to see how it might look, I spent some time using AI to work out what a cover might look like, because that helps me understand what I am trying to achieve.<\/p>\n
This is the current draft cover, which also reveals my current thinking about the title, which could, of course, change (not least to correct some obvious errors):<\/p>\n
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For the sake of completeness, this is a draft back cover, because if you cannot write that, you cannot write a book:<\/p>\n
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The title is deliberate. The problem we face is that the people who hold office in this country, and many others, appear to have no idea why they want to do so, what they want to achieve, or how they might do any of it. The book addresses those issues. Its underpinning may be found in modern monetary theory, but that does not provide a manifesto, so the book does much more than explain some essential economics. It also discusses using sound economics as the basis for effective governing.<\/p>\n
The subtitle is also deliberate. I wrote my book,\u00a0The Courageous State,<\/em><\/span> in 2011. Jacqueline actually came up with the title, and in the 15 years since then, no government has risen to the challenge of creating such a state. In fact, we have retreated a long way from it, having been governed by a succession of cowards ever since. It seemed appropriate to pick up the theme again.<\/p>\n As for the draft cover, I put a lot of thought into it. There is, quite deliberately, no character who stands out in the image. A courageous state is for everyone, and politicians are no more important than anyone else. The plants are there deliberately. They metaphorically represent the planet. The low structures on which some people are sitting represent the boundaries of the state, but they are deliberately shown to be permeable. At the same time, they represent infrastructure which people can use, because that is what a courageous state should supply.<\/p>\n That said, this book will contain nothing that a regular reader here will not already know. I will make no apology for that. This book will deliberately pull together familiar themes so that they might become more familiar to others.<\/p>\n This also makes the writing of the book a fairly straightforward task. If I can keep distractions to a minimum, I can fit it in over a few weeks at most. To put this in context, I could write a 2,500-word chapter in a first draft during a walk from my house into Ely and back again, with the first half being edited whilst there,\u00a0having a coffee. I know that because I regularly write a 1,250-word column for the National newspaper during one leg of that journey.<\/p>\n This, however, opens a bigger question. I sense an urgent need for this book. If I go to a large publisher, an 18-month timescale might be optimistic. A smaller one might halve that. If we self-publish, albeit on Amazon, we might halve that. That said, a self-published book would not get into bookshops, except perhaps Toppings in Ely, whose team I know quite well.<\/p>\n So, your opinion is sought twice, if you do not mind obliging me:<\/p>\n\n\t