I got a lot of feedback on my last blog post, and rather than respond to it one at a time, I thought it would be better to just write another blog post and respond to it here.
First of all, thanks for all of the support. I really appreciate it. I’m not going through a particularly hard time right now, and I’m not thinking seriously about giving up writing either, so I’m sorry if my last post gave that impression. I’m definitely going to keep writing, since this is the path that I feel I’ve been called to, and the vocation that I should pursue.
This isn’t a question of “should I give up writing, or should I sell out to the woke agenda?” Rather, it’s a question of “should I go off and become a voice in the wilderness, or should I focus on building my career?” It may be possible to do both things at once, but when I look at where the culture is today, it looks more and more like a very difficult needle to thread.
Or maybe not. Maybe what we call “the culture” is mostly just a bunch of bullies, sock puppets, and trolls conspiring with Big Tech and the corporate media to drown out all other voices. Perhaps the true culture has actually bifurcated, and what looks like “the wilderness” is actually where the most people really are. Perhaps it really is just a small number of people going crazy, and because of all the gaslighting, everyone else only thinks that they are the last sane man or woman in this world.
The other thing I ought to keep in mind is that crying out against our modern culture isn’t actually removing yourself from the cultural conversation. On the contrary, it’s one of the most outspoken ways to be a part of it, even if you do end up in the wilderness. Hardly anything from the culture of the Old Testament has survived, but we still have the words of their prophets today.
It is frustrating, though, because the culture really isn’t producing any of the kinds of stories that made me fall in love with science fiction and fantasy in the first place. Brandon Sanderson is kind of an exception to that, but in some ways even he seems to be bending before the cultural winds. Do I need to bend as well? There may be some wisdom in that: after all, the grass can endure the storm that takes down the mighty oak.
So you see, it’s a much more nuanced question than “do I bend the knee or give up writing?” Rather, it’s a question of where to bend, and where to stand firm. I doubt my Zedekiah Wight stuff is going to amass much of a following, though I’d love to be proven wrong. But I’ve still got to find ways to stay true to my inner voice, even if that drives me out into the cultural wilderness.
Anyways, these are just some of the questions I’ve been pondering lately. I’m not depressed, and I’m not going to give up writing, so don’t worry about that, though thanks for your concern.
I write poetry as a ministry, so I see myself as being called to write the full truth for a culture in which even practicing Christians are nonetheless influenced by our culture’s many errors—how can they not be when literally everything modern culture believes is wrong? (Any Christian who disagrees can just check what modern culture teaches against what the Bible teaches. There is not one point in which they agree unless the Bible’s meaning is twisted to fit the culture.) I see it as my calling to be squarely in the cultural wilderness and rip the mask off the culture’s lies, never bending to the culture. Besides, the people here are more enjoyable company, and the fun we have is much more enjoyable than what the culture offers.
In fact, I have a lot of fun offending uptight liberals with my blatantly traditionalist verse. (I’ll repost the URL so people don’t have to go back to the post where I first posted it: https://classicalpoets.org/?s=Joshua+C.+Frank )
This hasn’t hurt my getting published, except in the many magazines I wouldn’t want associated with my name anyway. I’ve been published in some prestigious magazines, so anyone reading this, don’t be afraid to write what you believe in, and don’t think you have to bend to the cultural winds!