Book just came in the mail. Haven’t read it yet, but will report back later when I do.

I first heard of The Motern Method and Matt Farley on Austin Kleon’s substack. The whole question of quantity versus quality and how much we should share is something I’ve been interested in for quite some time.

I really, really want to follow Heinlein’s Rules as championed by Dean Wesley Smith, so I’ve tended to lean on the side of “share it all” — or “Put it on the market” in Heinlein’s parlance — which is definitely NOT the attitude of most artists, and which can seem a bit “icky” in the case of someone like Farley, if you think what he’s doing isn’t art. I don’t write stuff in order to game the system or the algorithm or whatever. But then, I also don’t think Farley is just trying to game the system either. He wants to write songs and he wants people to listen to them. Why not write hundreds of poop songs? Nobody said art had to be serious.

If what Farley does is art, then who cares if his songs are silly or designed to get people to click on them?

But if what Farley does isn’t art, then that’s where we might accuse him of cynically manipulating the system.

I kind of think he’s an artist, so I’m kind of okay with his crazy output.

Anyway, I ordered his manifesto, The Motern Method, partly because I’m interested in these quantity/quality debates, and also because I am trying to banish my Critical Voice and embolden my Creative Voice, and Farley’s method seems ideal for such attempts.

I have reading I need to do for work, but The Motern Method is calling me like an algorithmic siren song…