March 19, 2007

Extreme writing

Have you been sucked in by the myth of talent?

I'm a klutz. I can't throw a basketball to save my life. To see me play tennis is to laugh. In fact, I can barely carry the dishes to the dining-room table without tripping.

Despite this, we recently took the kids and spent a week in a little cabin in the B.C. Interior, going cross-country skiing every day. It was fun, although as you might guess, I'm not going to cause Olympic gold medalist Beckie Scott to start checking over her shoulder. One day we skied over to the bottom of a downhill run. My athletic husband and daughter scrambled partway up the mountain -- on regular old cross-country skis and boots-- then swooshed down, showing off their graceful telemark turns all the way. I, meanwhile, cowered at the bottom, trying not to slip on the wide and nearly board-flat expanse.

So, I've faced it. My husband and daughter have the genetic gift, and I don't. But was I going to let that stop me? No way! I skied. I had fun. And I did better than last year.

And here's the interesting thing. Many people feel about writing the way I do about skiing. They think they have no gift; no natural aptitude. They tend to fret endlessly about talent. As in: "Do I have enough of it? Who else is better? Why isn't life more fair?"

Well sure, talent can help. But it's not the lottery prize you might think. In fact, it can even be a hindrance. I've seen lots of extremely talented writers who ended up spinning their wheels. For example, I have a friend who wrote a book. Got an agent and a publisher. Had a deal. Then, for reasons that had nothing to do with him, the deal fell apart. That was almost 20 years ago. He hasn't written another book since.

Conversely, I've seen many modestly talented people who made very successful writing careers -- simply because they were willing to do the work and they were persistent as all get out.

Writing does not depend on talent. (Read that again. Maybe say it out loud.) It depends on hard work and determination.

If I can ski, you can write.