Two years ago, I linked to this piece from Robin Sloan, in which he looks at the idea of ‘stock’ as counterpoint to ‘flow’. It’s one of maybe two or three articles or videos I come back to, again and again. (Another is Ira Glass talking about the “Good Taste Gap”).
Anybody who wants to write about how the internet works, and how the internet is changing how we write and read and concentrate and promote, needs to read Robin’s piece. It’s stuck with me, because it maps onto exactly how things are. Like all truly great writing, it holds up perfectly two years later, and I suspect it will still resonate with me in a decade or two.
Here’s what Robin means by ‘stock’ and ‘flow’:
- Flow is the feed. It’s the posts and the tweets. It’s the stream of daily and sub-daily updates that remind people that you exist.
- Stock is the durable stuff. It’s the content you produce that’s as interesting in two months (or two years) as it is today. It’s what people discover via search. It’s what spreads slowly but surely, building fans over time.
The greatest thing about Robin’s definition of ‘stock’? It totally applies to his piece.
When I read a lot of people complaining about “the internet”, they’re complaining about flow. But flow has always existed. It’s a total fallacy to believe that before the web or TV or radio, we spent all our time creating and consuming long-lasting, complex stuff. Robin makes the great point that we shouldn’t reject flow. Flow can be fun! In fact, fun’s basically the entire point of flow! Flow is sweet and fluffy, and it would be sad to imagine life without it.
The real issue is when when we mistake flow for stock (or vice-versa), or when we’re too heavy on one and too light on the other. Everyone writes, but if you want to call yourself a “writer”, it means that you’re working on durable writing: stuff that will stick around (or that you hope will stick around, if you’ve done your job right).
Flow is easy, and stock is hard, both from the perspective of a creator, and from the perspective of a consumer. But stock is good: it’s the stuff that you mark your life by.
As Robin says, “Sacrifice neither.” But when you wake up, ask yourself, “What am I going to do today that actually matters?” Punctuate that with a good dose of dumb ol’ flow, but make sure you come out of every day with something that won’t just drift away.