Today’s today in tabs had as its kicker a link to a list of “things that don’t work.” I won’t link to it because it has a certain smell about it, a smell of mixing things that are obviously true with things that are just one guy’s opinion and some that are just plain wrong. I read a few of the other things on the site and there’s a nasty undercurrent to the dude’s writing. That kind of smell. Anyway.
One of the obviously true things on his list of things that don’t work was “quality over quantity” (again that smell, generalities when talking about something specific). But the specific thing is this: you don’t make good art by just making one thing, you make it by making a bunch of stuff. Austin Kleon has it as “Quantity leads to quality” (my emphasis) which is a much better way to formulate it. Anyway.
All that to say, I’m gonna try to blog more? I certainly have the pictures. While there may be some stinkers in there, the practice is good for me. I definitely feel my writing get better and words come more easily as I do it more. Daily would be great but I’m not going to make that, there’s too much going on.
These are all from a couple days last november, before thanksgiving. I don’t know why I grouped them, but there they were in my edits. Just walking around the neighborhood.
Sidenote: when I see stuff that’s obviously just someone’s opinion stated as fact, I fall back on the line from The Big Lebowski: “Yeah, well, ya know, that’s just like, uh, your opinion, man.” I didn’t really mark it until I read Jeff Bridges’ book The Dude and the Zen Master, where there’s a whole chapter with that as the title, about non-attachment. The conceit of the book is a little hokey, but there’s some good stuff in there.
