...Is it better to keep "putting things out" and defining them as "done" and setting them aside to work on "new" things, in hopes that one will make new, better, different things each time? OR is it better to hoard and hold onto things and never release them until they are absolutely perfect. I am more and more coming to the conclusion that the first is true, because it seems to me there is only a small window for perfection, and if you decide to hold out and move on for a more perfect, safely thought-out perfection, you may have missed the boat. That kind of perfection is basically made of the same stuff as the ball of light you see after you stare at a light too long in church. One needs to keep productive and self-trusting in order to stay creative and keep the flow of expression going.
However, the hoarding technique naturally has its benefits. I keep finishing songs I started years ago, using techniques I wouldn't have tried back then, while keeping old sounds that i wouldn't necessarily use now. Cassavetes released completely different versions of most of his films. Raymond Carver went back and revised nearly all of his early short stories when he was much older. I'm not saying revision is a bad thing.
I am just proposing that perhaps at a certain point one must reach an inevitable 'hoarding limit' where a continuous 'doing' period becomes unstoppable.
In essence, it doesn't really matter. Every individual decision we make has a specific reason and an exponential set of ropes gnashing and pulling us in different directions. We enter productive and revisionary periods. We collect food and we hibernate. We eat and shit. We experience high tides and low tides, inhales and exhales.
