aflame in the forest.

if you find yourself in a vacuum, that is the time to play with matches: fewer¹ flash fires, less collateral damage.

we iterate in silence, and see what might be shaped from the flame.

I'm experimenting with something today: the value of my own work, which I set and control.

it has always been distasteful to shill myself in any form, but necessity says:

I am a human startup that has run out of runway

[Projects A-Z] have yet to come to a point of funding

if I am to continue collecting art², I must sell my own

dear reader: this has not been going so well.

let's take a look back at my weary life to-date from a cold perspective of valuation:

I was paid a pittance (if I was paid at all) for stories I spent hundreds of hours writing, editing, and submitting, before a "sale"

I was never paid for photoshoots I spent hundreds of hours planning and editing, at immense monetary cost of my own

ergo, I have no history of valuation.

I am aware that pricing is an incomplete circuit.

if I say, "THIS THING I'VE CREATED COSTS A THOUSAND DIGIBUCKS," it doesn't matter until someone else decides it does, by voting with their digibucks in agreement.

with no established value, I am free to play with matches within my vvvebs.

fine. I'll kill the spiders with fire, then.

will this further deter potential collectors in the future?

🤷

if you don't value my work now, why would I value your opinion then?

footnotes:
¹ none, probably, given... science'n'stuf -- but I liked the phrase
² not to profit from, but to enjoy, and to directly support other artists -- the mountainous vvveb I have chosen to go like van gogh on