You’re Not a Classical Composer – You’re a Punk Rock Shredder

“I really don't think records should be made in the manner where you sit and write, and when you're finished writing, you start recording. That just seems conventional and old-fashioned to me.” – Jay Reatard, Born May 1, 1980.

Writing for the internet, for yourself, is pretty fucking punk.

You don't have time to engineer a masterpiece.

You have crap it out as fast as you write it. Or else the zeitgeist moves on.

You don't have the luxury your old granddaddies and grognards had, where they could toil away on that novel or letter and craft it to be this perfect jewel.

Before you finish, your audience is bored and has strayed.

No, you have to dedicate yourself to the rogue ethic of the punk rocker, or jazz noodler.

Perform. Publish. Do it now. Save as many steps as you can. Be as immediate as you can.

This present moment, what are you doing to further your goals? To make a living writing? To sell more stuff? To be your own boss?

At the time of this writing, I'm here at the bar at midnight after my family has gone to bed, listening to Jay Reatard and writing and publishing.

Am I a hustle/grind/24/7 zombie? No. This is what I want to do. This is my fun and my work. If I achieve any mastery at my craft, it's because I did it in public, here in front of you, an inch at a time.

If I had to write all this by myself on a typewriter, then wait months for it to be printed and bound by a publisher, you would not have it.

The internet suits my ethic and aesthetic.

It rewards my mode of working. Which is to just keep writing/publishing/writing/publishing every day.

Hey, even a video now and then.

But this internet thing, it's not like the old way of writing sales copy. It's a different beast, and you can't take full advantage of it by approaching it the way some dead guy who made millions in the 70s says to.

Hit the Post button. Hit the Stream button. Do it now.