What We Learn From The Movie "Moneyball"

"Moneyball" stars Brad Pitt as Billy Beane, the man who successfully led the a super-bad baseball team on a budget by employing a computer geek who provided computer-based analysis on players. I watched this movie last week and had been planning to write this post sooner. A remarkable movie with many lessons that we as writers in particular can do good to learn.

1. Accept The Challenge: There are times when things won't go your way. Like no agent or publisher would seem to like your book. Or even before that - people did not believe that you can write a decent sentence, let alone a whole book. If you are passionate about your book, accept the challenge. Just like Billy Beane did. He did not quit because he was on an impossible budget. He accepted the challenge and did everything to make it happen!

2. When On A Budget, Be Innovative: Yes. Especially if you are going self-pub. Unfortunately, we writers do no have deep pockets, but we have amazing creative brains! Be innovative and make the best of what is at hand to get your book to your readers. Billy Beane did that by thinking different. You can too.

3. Take Risks: That moment is inevitable. Sooner or later it will come and your stare would linger at the soft, comfortable safety net. But that, my friend, would not fulfill your dreams. Take risks. What do you have to lose? At the worst, your book would bomb. But you can write another! Billy Beane could have lost his whole club and left with no money. Not even to finance his daughter's education. Yet he took the risk and it paid off. It will for you too. 

Finally, the most important lession: HAVE THE COURAGE TO MOVE ON. There cannot be a clearer message in the movie. Billy Beane's team lost the world cup in spite of all his innovative efforts. Things did not go the way he planned it. It happens in life, right? If everything would happen the way you planned, what is the fun in living? Have the guts to move on. Move on to better goals, other opportunities. Life doesn't end with one failure or one book. Life is not just one 100000 words novel. It is so much more than that. Write more. Read more. Dream again. And fight again. Do not give up like Billy Beane. Do not turn down opportunities, especially when they are making the loudest noise possible on your door. 

Have you watched this movie? What did you learn from it?