No good creative output without sacrifice. An audience can spot laziness from a mile away, and they won't hesitate to crucify an artist for cutting corners. A creator must slice wide swaths of time from their days and set that harvest aside for work. They could have spent that time on all manner of frivolity: the consumption of unrelated, garbage-tier media (though there is absolutely a place for that, and in fact it may even be necessary, but that’s a topic for another discussion), depressed productivity-destroying sleep, or simple procrastination. They must spend the harvested time slathering out mortar and laying bricks in the foundations of knowledge. They must spend it adding another layer of highlight and shadow to an image. They must spend it meticulously automating an audio effect, or sowing character flaws, seeding plots, and then nurturing those to glorious fruition.
The artist must sacrifice an idle lifetime to create something great.
First draft: 210101
Published: 231106