I’ve been reading lots this holiday week and digging into non-fiction literature on the art and practice of being a professional creative. Pressfield, Cameron, Godin. All of them have great ideas about resistance, practice, inspiration, focus, and purpose. All of them have their words of wisdom from which we can glean insight or ignore as pop psychology.

A crazy idea that manifested in my head as I read or reread these books this past week was the idea of claiming my role as an artist in a more purposeful way, but also a way that doesn’t consume me and my time or detract from the actual practice of doing the work in the first place. Specifically, I’ve been thinking about how I can start backing off social media and using it in a way that is on my own terms rather than that of the algorithm.

The thought occurred to me that I should try to designate myself a “shipping day” for my personal creative work in 2024. That is, in advance, pick a date, or a series of dates when I “ship” my work out on social media for friends and casual followers. And I’d ship work only on those dates. And every other day is not meant for shipping, posting, or sharing.

I’d be dark most of the time.

See, I’d still be participating, but on my own terms. I’d be reducing my participation, but still participating. I’d still be performing for a public, but on a plan and a schedule that would reduce the pressure to be “delightfully spontaneous” for an online audience. Crazy, huh?