Paralysis through analysis

Today I was listening to Duran Duran on the way to work and was thinking how good the self-titled album they put out in the '90s was. I think it was John Taylor who said in an interview that the reason the album was so good was that they approached it as if it were their last. Marianne Faithfull has said the same thing about her masterpiece, Broken English. That got me thinking, why doesn't every recording artist approach each album as if it is their last? Obviously, going about things in that way presents a huge emotional commitment. But why put out music, or art of any kind, in which you don't have a major emotional investment? Of course, not everyone is going to make some heavy statement, but even for a pop act the logic works: Shouldn't the B-52's put out the best party album they can? And Michael Jackson consciously strived to put out the genre-crossing pop album with Thriller.

The danger in putting so much pressure on yourself, of course, is that you can end up with what Quincy Jones called "paralysis through analysis" -- his phrase for Michael Jackson's problem post-Thriller, when he fretted so much about doing something significant that he ended up not doing much of anything. I have this problem when I write. I dabble with fiction, then I figure it's not going to be Grapes of Wrath so why bother -- pretty self-defeatist, right? I also find it very difficult to write without editing myself as I go along, and those are supposed to be two separate processes. I've started writing a few poems again and trying not to worry too much about whether they're good. I'm trying to start another blog, too (which might replace rather than supplement this one; I don't know yet), but my biggest issue is finding the time. My life seems to be very busy lately, and mostly with things that aren't fulfilling. It might be time to discover the power of saying no.