Show Your Work
I’ve just read a book in one sitting that has made me decide to dust off this site and see what I might put in the world. It has been more than a decade since I created and released anything and I found that experience disappointing in many ways.
I’d created an album myself. I borrowed a keyboard and some other equipment from bandmates and friends and got to recording some songs I’d been working on. A couple of them were good, but the rest I was immediately ashamed of either for the quality of the writing or the limitations of my recording and producing abilities.
I let it get to me and define me though. It haunts me still. I find it interesting though that no matter how embarrassed I may be about it, I leave it up on Bandcamp, just in case maybe someone thinks it’s better than I do.
I’ve created since then, but I’ve released just about nothing. Most recently, I’ve done some scoring for my wife’s performances and videos. There’s less of my ego wrapped up in her work, so it seems easier to get out there I guess.
Well anyway, why am I writing this bit on this site no one has visited in a over five years? Well, I supposed it’s time to “show my work”. I want to get over myself to be honest. I am so worried about what someone I don’t know will think of me that I won’t let myself put anything into the world. My friends have no idea what I think or what I’m working on. Hell, my wife hardly knows me at this point.
This isn’t all down to that album those years ago. It’s down to me thinking that humans put a lot of stock into what old Phil DuPertuis is up to. I know I need to realize no one cares, and yet somehow believe that there’s something in what I’m thinking is worth saying, and then worth reading or hearing. Damn if it’s not a paradox.
"On the spectrum of creative work, the difference between the mediocre and the good is vast...[but] the real gap is between doing nothing and doing something"
Clay Shirky | Cognitive Surplus
"One finished project is worth more than a thousand good ideas"
Nathan Johnson