Someone told me recently that there were more books in the public domain than any one person could read in a lifetime.
Sure, most of them read as old or outdated. But classics are classics for a reason.
And while there are those afraid of what AI will do to book writing, the true problem remains the same:
How to find an audience for your work.
With anything you do burnout is a very real threat.
It isn’t always about retreating away or shutting down.
Sometimes you just need to fill the well, and you should trust yourself to know how best to do that.
We don’t always think about how curated the content we see is.
Isn’t as if there’s this one person directing content to our devices, or a Big Brother-esque organization.
Nonetheless, what we see is heavily affected by how some system determines our preferences.
And as we respond to their prompts, we become more like they think we are, and it’s an endless cycle.
That’s odd to me.
There’s a downside to having a bevy of interests.
Curiosity can send you down a rabbit hole of exploration.
The opportunity cost is, obviously, time not devoted elsewhere.
In my head, I say the things I tell others not to say.
I want to create something. I don’t have enough time. And in those particularly bad instances, I’m not good enough.
But it’s all resistance. Which is just another name for fear.
When we revere, we risk losing critical thought.
Facing a closer look, they rarely hold up to reverence.
They say never meet your heroes. Because the lives of those are rarely different than our own.
On thinking of Independence Day, it’s become a patriots’ day.
But if you consider it fully, it is a celebration of dissidence. Rebellion against unfair governance.
And some will certainly say that it’s a time of unfair governance, but I think it’s more important to look back, and see what our revolutionaries we’re actually fighting against.
It takes a certain kind of person to write daily. Really, to do anything with that level of consistency.
We don’t always have to be that kind of person.
But if we are, more often than not, we still see results.
We are all influenced. Just as we all influence.
Who we become influenced by is at least partially within our control.
Who we influence, not as much.
Be mindful of the legacy you’re leaving.
When it comes to your creativity, don’t say it. Do it.
Show up. Create. Ship.
Simple.
Michael's Musings 