Shipping creative work
Publishing on a schedule rather than waiting for the work to feel ready
Making something and putting it in front of people are two different acts. This treats the second as its own skill, with its own fears. The schedule decides when. So the question is no longer whether today's piece is good enough, only whether it goes out on the day it was due. Anonymous work is easy for exactly this reason: nobody reacts. People who publish on a fixed cadence say the fear never leaves, it just stops setting the timetable. It costs nothing and it leaves you visible.
People on record
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Does it: documented as part of their own routine. Recommends: explicitly advises other people to do it. Discusses: covered it substantively without clear personal adoption; this can include criticism or disagreement.
- Austin KleonDoes it
Writer and artist · Steal Like an Artist
Everything good in his career traces back to the blog, he says: the books, the art shows, the speaking gigs, some of his best friendships. Liking it is the third of the three reasons he gives for still posting after fifteen years.
Source: AustinKleon.com: 15 years of blogging (and 3 reasons I keep going)“One little blog post is nothing on its own, but publish a thousand blog posts over a decade, and it turns into your life’s work.”
AustinKleon.com: 15 years of blogging (and 3 reasons I keep going) (opens in a new tab) · 9 Sep 2020 - Seth GodinRecommends
Author · Seth's Blog, published daily
Separates being creative from shipping the result, calling them different skills with different fears attached. Anonymous work feels easy because nobody can react to it; the risk turns up the moment someone might. Working out which of the two is holding you back is the step he suggests first.
Source: seths.blog: Shipping creative work
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