T of C TK (Two Five Zero 23 012)

In support of “Here’s What We’ll Do: Practical suggestions for working toward a marginally Better Future”

Here’s this week’s 250-word post. I’m working on the Table of Contents.

I went to Mexico and came back. While there I used my writer’s-retreat-like lifestyle to review many of the 26 chapters of my book. When I returned I finished the review process (that’s 438 pages worth).

Then: publish a draft Annotated Table of Contents, and follow a publication schedule for drafts of each chapter. Chapter 26 will be published November 8th.

I’m planning to publish everything in draft form because, as will be explicated in — Chapter 7: Pound this Down (Developing in Public) — following my commitment to being vulnerable and transparent, I’m inviting everyone backstage to watch my development process. And also because, as will be explicated — in Chapter 5: Here’s What YOU Can Do and Chapter 25: Allies, Coalitions, Transformation Workers, and Celebrities — I’m looking for input and collaboration throughout the rest of the process.

Chapter reviews were to be done on April 12th, but weren’t done until April 26th. I was then supposed to have two weeks (not two days) to pull the annotated Table of Contents together and publish it on April 28th (that’s today). In the last few days my confidence in that outcome has steadily declined until this very moment, when I’ve decided I can’t do it.

Here’s the thing. I’ve got a spreadsheet with three columns and 26 rows (it’s a little more complicated than that, but you don’t want to know.) That’s a total of 78 boxes — 3 for each chapter: a description, a memoir section, and a list of projects. Each contains pithy summaries.

Some boxes are blank. Some are overflowing. I’m pretty confident I can finish and publish it with four or five more person-hours, but not today. Soon though. I’ll publish it soon. In the meantime, here’s a list of chapter titles:

1. Our Better Future
2. My Mission
3. Mortality
4. The Broad Outline
5. Here’s what YOU can do
6. How To Use this Book
7. Pound this Down (Developing in Public)
8. Themes
9. Propaganda and Decolonizing
10. This Land Is your Land
11. So much good work (has been done, is being done, will be done)
12. Revelations with Friends
13. Skills
14. Self-Improvement
15. Politics
16. Politics, Electoral
17. Politics, Non-Electoral
18. Politics, Revolutionary
19. Culture
20. Culture, Jamming
21. Culture, Content Creation
22. Infrastructure
23. Community
24. Preaching to the Choir
25. Allies, Coalitions, Transformation Workers, and Celebrities
26. You Couldn’t Pay Me To Be Young in this Current World