7 June 2010

The process of turning two years of public correspondence (and four battered notebooks worth of scribblings, numbers, quotes, tables and poetry) into a product to encourage a more realistic comprehension of this ‘human civilisation’ gig wasn’t just a one-man show.

One of my learning experiences during this project has been that no matter how well-formed and thoroughly-thought-through I believed my material to be, it could never become polished without external input. There are too many connections and too much which must hang together. Extra brains have therefore been an essential part of my creative equipment.

From the outset (in May 2005 when I wrote my first email on the Dover cliffs) there’s been a non-stop cycle of feedback. There was never a point at which what I was writing wasn’t being reacted to. What’s more, I’ve never been shy about showing copy to anyone who asked (and, on several occasions, to those who didn’t).

My reviewers picked themselves. Anyone who asked for a bit, critiqued it, asked for more, critiqued that bit, then asked for more again became a reviewer. Simple as that.

Every member of that team has invested a great deal of time and effort into making the book happen. I’ve been alluding to these people for the past two years when writing about writing the book. There’s been a lot of interest in who they are. It’s well overdue that I honour the work they’ve done and the much-needed support they’ve provided.

So, now there’s a section on the website about them.

CHECK IT OUT

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