Into the Fire

It can be fascinating to see the different responses to pieces of “art”. When I saw the Academy Award nominations, I laughed out loud at the placing of “District 9” in the Best Film category. I know a couple of my friends immensely enjoyed and appreciated this movie, but many others of us less enlightened folks couldn’t get through more than a half hour of it. Another film that a few friends hold in high regard is “300”. It happens to be on my Top Five All-Time Worst Films list where “District 9” would also be placed if I could’ve stomached watching the entire movie. To each his own, huh?

These same often intense debates carry on about films, novels, other writings, and paintings. Although there are contests for the different arts, many of us who participate in these forums mostly compete against ourselves. We face our insecurities daily as we direct, write, or paint, using a camera, pencil, brush, or anything else to create. Constantly aware that others possess greater abilities than ourselves, we often struggle through the creative process either urging ourselves to persevere or to give up—or both.

More often than we’d like to believe our writing can be polarizing. Having experienced this recently with two different comments here, the seesaw of being a writer either helps you experience the sensation of soaring or the bane of dropping fast and hard back to ground level. We either push ourselves back up or remain seated on that hard board too dismayed to try elevating ourselves again.

This is the primary reason I don’t enjoy doing “negative” reviews and why I try to stipulate that either I’m not the target audience for the novel or I’m reasonably sure others will enjoy the book. However, for review purposes I do give specific reasons for why I don’t like a book because those readers like me will not appreciate the book either. Plus, as I’ve said more than once here, I’m obligated to tell the truth concerning my opinion of a story since the book was sent to me free of charge for specific review purposes.

You’d never guess from some of my posts here that I’m mostly a non-confrontational person. However, I do have what I sometimes ruefully call “the prophet mentality”. Gray areas can escape my gray matter regarding certain issues. Black or white shout out their reasoning at times and I’m obligated to forward those notions. It’s in me in some cases to be exacting and, well . . . opinionated. Remember me? Passionate: right or wrong.

I’ve struggled with the demon of inferiority my entire life, feeling worthless whether or not I’ve been good at something or not. Jesus took a long time to convince me otherwise, but it remains solid bait for the enemy. Yet I know who I am becoming in Christ, that He alone gives me worth, and I need to be content in my own skin because I’m not going to be wearing someone else’s—although that could have a lot to do with why I’ve always wanted to act.

The writing gig, specifically novels, polarizes audiences. Love a book or hate it or give it an “eh”. Most opinions remain steady even through discussions. The “eh” crowd just can’t be moved by the book while the love and hate crowd argue their assessments, some in fun, others in frenzy, definitely displaying they were moved one way or the other.

Creating something makes us vulnerable if we share it. Some of us get huge exposure, others of us minimal. Either way the opportunity exists for producing polarized responses.

Lord, you know me. Somehow you love me. Thank you, Jesus.