Finished Work
Robin Sloan makes a case for finished works, even while nurturing a feed:
Sometime I think that, even amidst all these ruptures & renovations, the biggest divide in media exists simply between those who finish things, & those who don’t. The divide exists also, therefore, between the platforms & institutions that support the finishing of things, & those that don’t...
Finishing only means: the work is whole, comprehensible, enjoyable. Its invitation is persistent; permanent. (Again, think of the Green Knight, waiting on the shelf for four hundred years.) Posterity is not guaranteed; it’s not even likely; but with a book, an album, a video game: at least you are TRYING...
Time has the last laugh, as your network performance is washed away by the same flood that produced it.
Finished work remains, stubbornly, because it has edges to defend itself, & a solid, graspable premise with which to recruit its cult.
The ol' Stock & Flow. Can't have one without the other.
In music, it's etudes and jams vs recitals and recordings.
Or perhaps you prefer keeping a sketchbook while working on paintings.
The secret I see working the best for folks is when they can gather up their flow and make stock out of it.