I was recently thinking that Id better give you all an update on the progress I’m making with the follow up to The Silver Knight. On consideration, it seems that I’ve little to actually say on the matter for, whilst progress is being made, I am still only a third of the way through a first draft, which means that it is likely to be 2010 before I can really speak about the next novel with any real meaning.
However, one thing is clear and that’s the need to maintain the standard I set with book one. Now, it may be that you think book one is no bloody good anyway. Well, even if that’s the case (and you are perfectly entitled to your opinion), then I should at least attempt to improve upon matters and produce something that is vaguely palatable. It comes down to standards.
I personally believe that standards are slipping and it is vital they are at least attempted to be maintained in every facet of life. If a politician is voted in because of an attractive policy pledge or speech only to sit back and not deliver, he or she is rightly criticised. If a rock or pop band, initially hungry for success follow up their first well-received album with a tepid second effort, they will be lambasted by their fans. If a brand manager generates high sales of his or her product, only to spend the following year playing golf and enjoying long business lunches, then the company fails and the P45 looms.
It comes down to complacency
If these people become complacent, they wither, decline and fail. They simply cannot afford to do so, nor do we allow them to. Why is it, then, that we are so apathetic to the issue of standards and complacency in the less tangible, less obvious areas?
Speech, language, broadcasting, television
The standards in all four of these areas slipped years ago and are, somewhat amazingly, still falling. For every intelligent, well-spoken sportsman, social commentator, doctor or policeman, there are a dozen monosyllabic footballers, moronic broadcasters, biased news presenters and feeble journalists. Read a newspaper in the fifties and compare it to one now. Listen to an interview in the seventies and compare it to now. Watch a children’s television program from the eighties and compare it to now. I could go on – it’s quite frightening. What’s worse is that once these things slip, it is incredibly difficult to come back. Almost impossible.
If you’ve spent every morning for the last five years getting up at six and going for a run or walking the dog and then one day you stop, you may easily forgive yourself for taking a rest. However, one day may become two, then becomes three, then becomes four. Before you know it, a month has flown by and the alarm is no longer set. It’s easy to do. The discipline is lost.
Gone – forever
The thin end of the wedge is the first time you allow complacency to be ignored. The thick end is when contentment rules and there is little length in that downward spiral. We can see the effect in many key areas of life everyday. Intelligence in many fields has evaporated. Crime and disorder has risen. Respect has fallen. Cleanliness of hospitals, freshness of food, standards of driving, academic achievement – all down.
And nobody cares
Well, perhaps not entirely true. Many people care, just not enough and not the right ones to make a difference. You try telling a Labour Party supporter that academic achievement has fallen and they’ll show you rising numbers. Well they would rise if you lowered the bar every year, wouldn’t they?
I appreciate I’ve rambled, so I’ll get back to the point and that is the standards of my own performance. I’ll try not to be a complete hypocrite and tell you that I don’t occasionally fall into the lackadaisical camp, because I do. However, I will make a pledge and that is to state that I’ll be doing my very best over the next eighteen months to ensure that the next book is up to scratch.
It will be better than The Silver Knight
However, one thing is clear and that’s the need to maintain the standard I set with book one. Now, it may be that you think book one is no bloody good anyway. Well, even if that’s the case (and you are perfectly entitled to your opinion), then I should at least attempt to improve upon matters and produce something that is vaguely palatable. It comes down to standards.
I personally believe that standards are slipping and it is vital they are at least attempted to be maintained in every facet of life. If a politician is voted in because of an attractive policy pledge or speech only to sit back and not deliver, he or she is rightly criticised. If a rock or pop band, initially hungry for success follow up their first well-received album with a tepid second effort, they will be lambasted by their fans. If a brand manager generates high sales of his or her product, only to spend the following year playing golf and enjoying long business lunches, then the company fails and the P45 looms.
It comes down to complacency
If these people become complacent, they wither, decline and fail. They simply cannot afford to do so, nor do we allow them to. Why is it, then, that we are so apathetic to the issue of standards and complacency in the less tangible, less obvious areas?
Speech, language, broadcasting, television
The standards in all four of these areas slipped years ago and are, somewhat amazingly, still falling. For every intelligent, well-spoken sportsman, social commentator, doctor or policeman, there are a dozen monosyllabic footballers, moronic broadcasters, biased news presenters and feeble journalists. Read a newspaper in the fifties and compare it to one now. Listen to an interview in the seventies and compare it to now. Watch a children’s television program from the eighties and compare it to now. I could go on – it’s quite frightening. What’s worse is that once these things slip, it is incredibly difficult to come back. Almost impossible.
If you’ve spent every morning for the last five years getting up at six and going for a run or walking the dog and then one day you stop, you may easily forgive yourself for taking a rest. However, one day may become two, then becomes three, then becomes four. Before you know it, a month has flown by and the alarm is no longer set. It’s easy to do. The discipline is lost.
Gone – forever
The thin end of the wedge is the first time you allow complacency to be ignored. The thick end is when contentment rules and there is little length in that downward spiral. We can see the effect in many key areas of life everyday. Intelligence in many fields has evaporated. Crime and disorder has risen. Respect has fallen. Cleanliness of hospitals, freshness of food, standards of driving, academic achievement – all down.
And nobody cares
Well, perhaps not entirely true. Many people care, just not enough and not the right ones to make a difference. You try telling a Labour Party supporter that academic achievement has fallen and they’ll show you rising numbers. Well they would rise if you lowered the bar every year, wouldn’t they?
I appreciate I’ve rambled, so I’ll get back to the point and that is the standards of my own performance. I’ll try not to be a complete hypocrite and tell you that I don’t occasionally fall into the lackadaisical camp, because I do. However, I will make a pledge and that is to state that I’ll be doing my very best over the next eighteen months to ensure that the next book is up to scratch.
It will be better than The Silver Knight
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