One of the reasons I moved to Woodstock is that I want to try for once being a software developer in an artistic context. #
I've always seen software as a creative thing, like writing, painting or sculpting, but the rest of the world can't seem to process this idea. I've tried doing my thing in Madison, Silicon Valley, Cambridge, Seattle and New York City. Everywhere I go I get blank stares when I say I create software as an individual. But where do you work? I work for myself. Who do you sell it to? I don't sell it. #
I do make money, from time to time, by selling something I've created, but most of what I create doesn't make money, the opposite, it costs me money to make. It's been that way ever since I was in my 20s and left Madison for Silicon Valley to make my fame and fortune. Like a musician goes to Nashville or Memphis, I'd say to my friends. I'm pretty sure they didn't believe me. I got lucky a few times, my products were hits, and I sold them to companies. I've tried being a CEO, and was able to do the job, sort of, but every day when I wake up, I'd rather create something than manage something. I don't like being responsible for other people's careers. So once was enough for being a CEO. It worked, we were able to go public, and the money I made made it possible for me to live a creative life, which is where I am most comfortable, most myself.#
I make software for others. More recently I've made products only for myself, with pretty great results. Something new happens when you relax the assumption that the software has to be easy to learn. My target market, me, is amazingly up to speed on how the stuff works. (It's meant to be ironic.)#
Anyway, I've found it's no different here. People have a hard time understanding that you could do art with materials such as compilers, servers, editors, networks, display screens, etc. People in general have no idea what those things are but they're no less visible than the raw materials of writing (plot, character, arcs). I'm patient. Not pushing too hard. #
I got a chance to start over, because this is not inherently a tech-loving community. The other day I used the word "modal" to describe myself. My friend had no idea what the word meant. I'm glad he asked. #
At the very least I've relocated to an stunningly beautiful place, where the cost of living is way lower than in any of the previous places I've lived. The smell of the place reminds me of childhood, where we vacationed when I was young. That makes my inner child feel secure, as it did the first time around. #
In a sense I want to go back to the early 90s, when blogging was still a twinkle in the eye, an intuition that if we created easy ways to publish, people would do it. The power of tech is that it becomes invisible and the message of the writer, the artist comes to the front. I see the combination of art, tech and protest being a powerful thing. We've been here before. #