Putting Things Into Perspective

I am currently reading the book "Radical" by David Platt.  He is a pastor with a doctorate from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.   He pastors a church of over four thousand members. 

The book is about refocusing ourselves as followers of Jesus. As Americans, we have taken Christianity and molded it to fit into our culture and our personal needs, much different than what many of us claim to have done--take our lives and needs and mold them into the call to be like Jesus. 

Platt makes eye opening points throughout the entire book, but so far, the following has stood out to me the most.

He was getting ready to take a trip to Sudan in 2004.  Because of this, two articles in the newspaper, one regarding Sudan, caught his attention.  Here is how he describes it in the book:

"The front cover had two headlines side by side.  I'm not sure if the editor planned for these particular headlines to be next to each other or if he just missed it in a really bad way."

Platt goes on to explain that the one headline, "First Baptist Church Celebrates New $23 Million Building," while the other next to it read "Baptist Relief Helps Sudanese Refugees."  The second article explained that hundreds of thousands of refugees in Sudan were dying of starvation everyday.  The article says that some Baptists had sent money to help them.  I can put the rest in no better words than Platt, so here is how he continued:

       "Now remember what was on the left: 'First Baptist Church Celebrates New $23 Million Building.'  On the right the article said Baptists have raised $5,000 to send to refugees in western Sudan.
       Five thousand dollars.
       That is not enough to get a plane into Sudan, much less one drop of water to people who need it.
       Twenty three million dollars for an elaborate sanctuary and five thousand dollars for hundreds of thousands of starving men, women, and children, most of whom were dying apart from faith in Christ.
       Where have we gone wrong?"

This whole concept has really shaken me.  As Americans, we can make excuses and justify why it makes sense for us to have elaborate architecture, sound systems and equipment, excessive budgets for kids events, and so on.  Many churches of today spend so much time looking inward, pouring into its members, taking care of its congregations, and facilitating growth within, that we miss out on the real reason we even began to do those things.  Why are we not pouring out? 

There's not much else to say but that.  Why are we not pouring out?
      

There is no such thing as a new idea.

   Wizards Hall Vs. Harry Potter


Wizards Hall was written by Jane Yolen in 1991.  It is a story about a young boy named Henry who goes to a school of wizards called Wizards Hall.  Yolen didn't receive much attention for this novel, nor did she win any awards.  Notoriety came to her novel only after J.K. Rowling published her first novel of Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.  Yolen's response was this:

"I wrote a book called Wizard's Hall. And there's an awful lot of Wizard's Hall in it. I always tell people that if Ms. Rowling would like to cut me a very large check, I would cash it."

There's no doubt that many stories written will draw heavily on other ideas.  The important thing, is to make it our own, to add our own twist.  Rowling didn't copy off of Yolen, perhaps she had never even heard of her until her own book was published and Yolen responded with negativity.   Either way, Rowling took an idea, transformed it, added to it, and published it.  As long as you draw from a number of sources, bounce ideas off of numerous people, and create unique and new characters, you won't run into a problem of plagerism.  Sometimes your ideas will sound a lot like other peoples, but don't worry.  A lot of the best ideas were borrowed and adapted.

Creation is a beautiful thing.

Inescapable Dissatisfaction

You will be disappointed. 

As a writer, you will be disappointed. 

You're work will will disappoint you, your talent will struggle to catch up with your ambitions.

The good news is--it's normal.  Every author falls short of their goals, every piece of art will not shine from its start.  Being a writer means accepting the frailty and inconsistencies of our own abilities.  My story is about 3/5 of the way done.  If you asked me how many portions of it I am pleased with I would have to tell you zero, or perhaps a negative number.  It is filled with flaw upon flaw, unbelievable character after unbelievable event.  It lacks a strong sense of character.  Its plot is filled with holes, big black ones that seem to suck the rest of the story into itself.  But despite all of this, I will finish it.

When I do, I will step back and look at the people and world I created and find a thousand things I hate, a hundred things I am disappointed with, ten things I'm missing, and one--one thing I absolutely love-- creating. 

There will be plenty of things to fix, plenty of time to critique, and plenty of people to do both, but until then, you'll never reach any concrete understandings of your writing, or more importantly, yourself.