I love some of the specialized channels on Sirius XM satellite radio. At one point, they replaced the channel playing big band music of the 1940s with one devoted to Billy Joel’s music. At first, that sounded all right. I enjoy several of his great hits. The problem is he also recorded a lot of junk.
To get to the occasional hit, you have to endure all the mediocre stuff.
Same with novelists. Our favorite writers can turn out some real bombs. You wonder why they don’t write only best-sellers.
The answer, of course, is that they have no way of knowing. If, as Paul said, “we see through a glass darkly,” it’s also true that people write books and compose songs without a clear idea of how it will be received.
When I was young in the ministry, I spent three years on the staff of a large church and got to see up close how things are done in the megachurch. Most of it was great and educational; all of it was interesting.
On more than one occasion, I chauffeured our pastor–a young man himself and probably a mite too impressed with his accomplishments–on short trips where he would address a group of ministers in some nearby town. I can still hear him saying, “Why am I wasting my time doing this? That bunch is never going to do anything.”
I disagreed with him then–and said so, leading to some interesting conversations–and do so to this day.