When I wrote my first story,
I put every plot device I loved
into that single story.
I didn’t know if I’d write a second story
so I wanted to do it all.
The story ended up
as a complicated mess.
Independent artist
Macklemore hit it big
with his song Thrift Shop.
The video was simple and charming,
a work of art.
His second video,
for Can’t Hold Us,
is a complicated mess.
He clearly put every plot device
he could think of
into that video.
I see this happen again and again
with artists
and with product developers.
They do it all
because they can do it all,
not because it benefits the product.
We’ll hopefully be living, writing, creating
for a long, long time.
We will eventually do all of the cool things
we long to do.
Pace yourself.
If you can’t pace yourself
(I know I can’t),
then appoint someone to control pacing
and listen to that person.