I have a pretty low idea-to-action ratio. I’ve had lots of ideas for stories and other creative projects through the years, but very little success in seeing them through.

Now, that’s just on solo projects. When I’ve pitched an idea to a friend, something we could work on together, my track record is… well, much worse.

As soon as I start a sentence with “dude, we should totally…” it’s pretty much guaranteed that it won’t happen.

[caption id=”attachment_286” align=”aligncenter” width=”200” caption=”How do they do it?”][/caption]

The sad thing is, I’ve got some seriously talented friends. I know several outstanding musicians, a bunch of great artists, and a few accomplished local actors. Most of my friends are able storytellers besides.

I’ve talked to a couple of my friends about creating comic books. I keep thinking about a podcast. And I keep hoping that, one of these days, something will stick.

That’s one thing I’ve loved about being a pastor: seeing people work together in ministry. It’s amazing to see how much work from so many people goes into putting a Sunday morning service together. It can be a truly beautiful thing.

The other place I’ve seen it work is in school projects. That is, the ones that are adequately planned, that had cooperative group members. I’ve been in that kind of group, and the other kind. Remember the kid that got stuck doing all the work? Yeah. That was me.

I’ve even written an entire short story with a friend. We took turns writing, passing it back and forth, then edited into something pretty decent. We tried a couple of times after that, but didn’t have the same luck.

I’d love to get another creative project going with some friends sometime. So, I’ll ask you: who out there has made it work?

Who has taken a cool idea, batted it around with some friends, and actually done it? What was it? How did you get from concept to reality? Tell me about it in the comments!