Ten Things the 'Gift of Writing' Will Never Do

"You! You have a gift, my friend! Yes, you do. You do."

It could be others have noticed you have a gift, a natural talent, for writing. You may know that's true. (What a pleasant thought!) What you may not know, realize, or care to admit is that your gift, your natural talent, will never:

1. Automatically make you a good writer.
2. Make writing a breeze.
3. Eliminate the need for you to pay attention to grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Or self-edit. Or rewrite. Or just toss the whole stupid thing out and start over.
4. Guarantee you'll get published or paid for your writing.
5. Make writing a less solitary -- less lonely -- endeavor.
6. Take the place of a good editor or trusted friend who will give you an honest  -- and very helpful -- opinion.
7. Let that nagging little inner voice ("You should be writing!") shut up . . . when you should be writing.
8. Make you creative enough to come up with a valid excuse for not using this gift.
9. Tell you why this gift was freely given to you.
10. Be a substitute for wisdom or virtue or grace.

 

The truth is every human has multiple gifts. It's just that some of those gifts are more visible to the public.(The ones having to do with the arts, entertainment, or sports, for example.) Just as there are unsung heroes, there are a lot of unsung virtuosos in parenting, teaching, plumbing, counseling, health care, car repair, family caregiving, and on and on. Thank God for their skills and the time and effort they put into developing and using their amazing -- and much-needed -- gifts.