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?

Comments

  1. I think I'll watch it for the second point you mentioned. Looks like a great movie...

    Saru

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  2. Great advice especially in today's publishing situation. Thanks for sharing!

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  3. I like your blog. Some great posts. Do you review children's books? I have two travel/adventure books published for middle readers. www.darlenefoster.ca for more info

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  4. Saru - It is a great movie. Brad Pitt has done given some wonderful performance. And the movie is not about baseball at all! :)

    Geraldine - You are welcome!

    Darlene - Welcome to my blog! I am open to books of any genre except for horror! I am literally scared of them...hehe. I will give your site a visit soon!

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  5. I haven't seen the movie, but I SO needed to hear numbers 1 & 3 right now!

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  6. Don't worry too much if you aren't a die hard baseball fan, the movie works for a wide range of audiences. The chemistry between Brad Pitt and Jonah is amazing. I would have liked to see a bit more from Philip Seymour Hoffman though. He didn't play as large of a role and the lines he did have weren't up to his potential. This one is worth seeing and will surely join my home collection.

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