Competent + Stubborn = Talented?

          In his blog, Nathan Bransford said, “One of the most important skills every writer must master is also one of the most elusive: trusting their own talent.”

Talent? Hang on while I check the cabinets to see if I have any.

I mean, I can string together a sentence. Writing is easy. Great writing is difficult. I suppose that’s where the talent part comes in.

I’ve just finished the Hunger Games series, and Suzanne Collins is a talented writer. How do I know? Because I stayed up until 1:00 in the morning to finish the first book, then I ordered the other two in the series to devour and display on my bookshelf for re-reading on rainy days. I love them THAT MUCH.

But I suspect that not everybody finds her novels so fascinating.

Then is talent, like beauty, in the eye of the beholder?

Since I don’t have an answer to these smoldering questions, I did what I always do: I Googled it, and found the best answers on Yahoo!

·         “You don't know right away…People will tell you if you are talented.” Emma

·         “Talent must exhibited and judged by some sort of standard...You will be    judged by your peers and others who are in the business.” Sal Monella

·         “There's no such thing as talent. There's only such thing as determination and perseverance.” Eat a Cactus

Thanks, Eat a Cactus! You give me hope, because I wouldn’t call myself talented. At best I would say that I’m competent and stubborn.

So does that mean Nathan is wrong? No, I’m sure it doesn’t, because Nathan really knows his stuff. But I will have to locate my talent before I can trust it.

Maybe it’s under the bed…