Thursday, May 9, 2024

Keep Pushin'

I'm torn in three directions right now. Finish posting the stuff from January, since I prefer to release material chronologically? Post what I just shot, to keep it relevant to the season? Or continue working through my backlog, to bring my older material up to date? (And spending time contemplating it only exacerbates the problem). Although having a buffer of content ready for release takes some pressure off of the stress of being pushed to maintain a regular posting schedule, I don't like the feeling of being drowned in my own work.

In a perfect world, I would post what I have as soon as I have it, and I wouldn't be pressured by my hosting platform with the threat of losing subscribers (or even my account) if I need to take several months' rest before I'm inspired to produce something new. This is a fear I have - periods of drought - even though in practical reality, I have the opposite problem: I produce so much, I can't process it (let alone release it) fast enough.

Every so often (as I've done before) I tell myself, from here on out, anything new I produce I'll release right away, so it doesn't add to the considerable backlog I'm already dealing with. But every single time, without fail, I end up producing so much I simply can't keep up with it. And so in the end I'll have sporadic bouts of releases, with other shoots left by the wayside, and a backlog that keeps growing, instead of shrinking.

And the result is, I'm left with a chaotic mess, and it's a struggle just to keep things organized. And I like things organized. The only thing that would help my problem is if I stopped taking pictures. But I love taking pictures! And, well, I have a compulsion to do it. Though I don't think it's a bad problem to have - being too prolific. It's not like an unhealthy addiction. It's good for my art, because I'm constantly getting experience, and the more pictures you take, the more likely you are to get some great ones along the way.

So I guess I'll just keep pushin' on. For now, at least. I just wish I got paid more to do it. Even minimum wage part time would seem like an embarrassment of riches to this starving artist...