We don't consider the roles that we're taking in making the world the way it is.
Out of grad school, I worked as a tech writer for a while before going into computer coding for a living.
The oldest principle of composition: repeat everything.
I write the way you might arrange flowers. Not every try works, but each one launches another. Every constraint, even dullness, frees up a new design.
All we can ever do is lay a word in the hands of those who have put one in ours.
If you're going to immerse yourself in a project for three years, why not stake out a chunk of the world that is completely alien to you and go traveling?