Hey! It’s 2018 and I’m starting whatever the heck this is. It might be considered a blog – except peak blogging was something like 10 years ago and everything has moved to The Facebooks, Instagramming, and Twitterverse (which in turn are crashing and burning). I don’t know what’s next, but the IndieWeb makes a compelling case for owning your own stuff… so here I am with an actual website. I make videos for a living, so yes, there will be videos. But not a vlog, because this is more intentional than a slice-of-life vlog. Videos will be hosted on YouTube, so maybe a YouTube Show? 1
Anyway, back to the point:
A little while ago I shared with a group of students the importance of shipping your work; even if it’s not perfect, maybe because it’s not perfect, you’ve got to ship your work in order to get over your own insecurities as a creator. It’s not a particularly original idea – I lifted it from Scott Pressfield’s The War of Art 2 – but hardly anyone takes the advice. Myself included. Sure, I’m used to shipping work for clients, but they pay me money for doing that. I’ve been too self-doubting to ship my own stuff. So, time to ship.
Following the “ship” analogy to it’s logical absurdity: This ship isn’t really built yet. It’s been in dry dock and under construction for the better part of a year. The engine room isn’t completed yet, and I really need to finish off the conning tower, but the hull is going to rust out if I don’t slap some paint on it and shove off into the ocean called “The Internets.” 3 It ain’t pretty. I’ll figure out the rest once we’re at sea.
This is what I do know: I want to share with you a different way of living life. It’s unusual. Different in it’s motivation and outcome. Counterintuitive. It will flip everything upside down, but everything will suddenly be right side up. It’ll probably seem completely impractical. It might make you angry – maybe even at me. 4 But I’m compelled to share. I’ll just have to deal with the rogue waves when they come.
OK, time to ship. 5