If you’re not among the 99% of people born with a talent for writing, don’t despair. You can still be a successful writer by developing your skills, a process available to us.
Talent can carry with its false assurances. It may cause us to think, Well, I’ve been given this talent and so now I can just do what I do and watch the accolades roll in.
Wrong.
Talent isn’t enough. I don’t see it as a key driver of success compared to what the majority of us should be doing: honing our skills and practising the craft over and over. Skill comes from commitment and self-discipline. Being a successful writer requires you to seek knowledge and opportunities. It takes time. It takes patience. You can’t rush professional development despite the many crowing voices expounding on the benefits of having raw talent.
When I worked as an editor, I looked for writers who revealed to me their passion to improve how they told stories and why they wanted to be better than they were yesterday. I regarded them a lot more favourably than I did writers who claimed they are pursuing their dreams because their family/teachers/friends extolled their natural ability to write and urged them to get published ASAP.
Being skilled at something might not require the full 10,000 hours we heard from Malcolm Gladwell but it will take the kind of commitment and drive that all writers should develop, whether they’re born gifted or not.
If you’re interested in working on your writing skills, get in touch with me to learn more about my 1-on-1 coaching programs available for freelance journalists and creative writers.
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