Following up on crazy ideas

I had an idea today.

My first thought about it was, "Hmm, that would be a really interesting idea to pursue. Could lead to some cool stuff."

My next thought was, "But on the other hand, maybe that's just crazy talk. Would the stuff be cool? Or just wacky headscratcher stuff?"

Then came, "It is pretty risky. But if I did it right, it could be VERY cool."

Then, "But am I up to doing it that well? And furthermore, no matter how interesting the result, it would certainly have a very limited audience appeal. Even written perfectly, it's WAY too nolandesque (nolandish?) to be commercially successful."

Then, "Should I let the potential for commercial success (or, in this case, the almost certain LACK of potential for commercial success) prevent me from trying what could be a very interesting experiment? Is return on investment the be-all, end-all metric for how and what I write?"

Then, "Maybe I should tell a friend this idea. They can let me know if it's a spark of genius I should follow up on, or a dopey fever dream I should allow to pass by."

Then, "Will you let others dictate the path your art takes? Have you really lost that much confidence in your ability to gauge what is and is not valuable writing?"

So, what to do? Follow up on this idea, knowing that the only recompense for doing so would be the satisfaction of an artistic itch scratched? Or let it go, embracing the cold-eyed rationality which calculates that it was sure to be a losing waste of time anyway?

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Landless by Tony Noland. If you like the blog, try one of the books.