Artistry With Words

No talent there . . . or is there?

I was thinking about the people I’ve known over the years, family and close friends, those kinds of people, and what talents they had.

Websters defines the word “talent” as:  a special often athletic, creative, or artistic aptitude, and a talented person as one who has an innate, special ability at something.

Sheez, when I look at that definition, I have to admit I didn’t really know anyone who was “talented.”  LOL . . . Certainly no one in my family could be described as talented.  None of my close friends were talented.  Heck, it could be argued, with some success, that I wasn’t talented, and if I was I certainly kept it hidden pretty darned well.

And yet today, without any formal training, I’m a pretty good writer, and several of my close friends are now described as talented in various fields of endeavor.

I can speak about me with a great degree of certainty.  I can speak for my close friends with a fair degree of certainty.  What I have noticed about me, and about my friends, is that my/their talent was hard-earned.  We/they worked their asses off to hone whatever “abilities” they had, and through hard work, determination, and a stubbornness which borders on obsessive, we have found some semblance of talent.  Maybe it was always there, but without that hard work and determination, there was no way it was going to show up.

Just some random thoughts as I prepare to work on my latest novel.  I don’t know about this talent thing.  I don’t know how much is innate and how much is earned.  But I do know it’s a shame when it is wasted.

Bill

“Helping writers to spread their wings and fly.”