“Why don’t you use AI to make art? It would be faster!” I don’t want it to be faster. The slow process of creation, discovery, and refinement is what gives the work meaning and value. Imagine someone who uses machines to clean clothes, dishes, vacuum their house, etc. Everything is automated. Shaves many hours of tedious work off per day. It’s easy to imagine this person on antidepressants. Why? I’d argue it’s because today’s conveniences have robbed us of purpose. The purpose of a hike is taking every step. Getting tired, taking breaks, appreciating nature, feeling centered. If you take a car up to the summit, you didn’t hike. This page took 8 hours. I want readers to feel those hours, to know I cared enough to put every scratch down manually. I want the book to have value. “You’ll only put out a couple books per year” Yes. That means each piece will have many hours of thought invested into it. I’m not interested in churning out “products,” nor consuming them. The whole world may desire machine slop, but I want real art. Humans have spirits, therefore art is like a fingerprint of a person’s spirit.