Writing; A Talent & A Skill.

Did you ever read 'Why You Act The Way You Do?" by Tim Lahey? It was one of the first self-help books I ever read and engaged with. I took the quizzes, wrote a lot, had so many questions and I was at the edge of my wits when I read it. It was one of those soul-piercing moments I had as a teenager.

I felt so violated and seen at the same time – my thoughts, life, experiences and perspective towards life was narrowed down to behaviours and temperaments. My fears were out in the open and my strengths were finally identified in ways I couldn't have been able to discover on my own.  

In that book, I took the first step to discovering myself; especially the things I needed to focus my attention on and I was able to mark the things I shouldn't allow impede my success. 

I later found 'Talent Is Never Enough' by John Maxwell and that just solidified a lot of the thoughts I have had in my head concerning why it seemed like I had so much potential but nothing extraordinary was happening in my life. It also validated a lot of the things I learnt from Tim Lahey's book.

The ability to write was endowed to some by natural selection, yes. Some folks are naturally drawn to documenting their ideas, thoughts, experiences, arguments, opinions, beliefs and knowledge. They are liable to cooking up stories and fantasies and sharing them with whoever cared to lend them an ear or eyes.

I remember as a child, I usually had a notebook I wrote in – short poems, short stories, articles, ideas of how I wanted to make a difference in the world, even jokes sometimes. I also remember that once a notebook finished, I was always eager to buy another one to keep writing. 

For a lot of my tough life experiences, I turned to write too. I wrote how I felt and how I was dealing with the traumatic experiences of life in short poems, short stories and all these were creatively captured in such a way that you wouldn't know that I was talking about me unless I told you so. 

But I realized something when I got to the University: some people's writing knocked my socks off. They weren't world-renowned writers or bestselling authors (yet); just regular students like me whose writing was so coordinated, structured, creative and perfect. I was jealous. I was jealous and for a little while, I was rebellious. I took my first break from writing. I felt betrayed. I thought the ability I had to create magic and evocativeness with words were my thing but seeing how haphazard my thing felt compared to other people's; I just was full of shame. 

I tried my best to not be lured back into writing as a form of expression. I ignored the ideas I was having; I hope I didn't lose a bestselling idea though. I didn't want to have anything to do with being a creative writer. I thought I was done until I realized I was too scared to put in some work. I thought since I didn't choose writing, it should come along nicely and perfectly without having to do much. 

In my online writing class, I told my students of a time I bought five of the Brighter Grammar Series to improve my grammar after I penned down the language and grammar hurdles I had to face (if I was going to be any good) and realized they were many. I got the books and I religiously read, studied and did every exercise until Book 5 (which was the last one I could get). I was a full-time toddler caregiver in Dainty Oaks Ibadan while I was learning grammar tenaciously. My schedule was tight – I usually leave my house before 7a.m to get to work early enough because some parents bring their babies in as early as 7 and a lot of times, I wouldn't leave until 7pm. I would get home tired, still have a few things to do but I would take time out to do a chapter or two. It started to pay off because I now know better how to communicate with the proper use of grammar. 

That was the beginning of the hard work. 

I started to collate a lot of writing resources – online and offline. I had a lot of books to read too because to be a great writer, you must be a great reader and an even greater listener. It was tough and it is still tough. 

When people talk about the hard work involved in being a successful writer, the focal point is usually blindsided to the business of writing and high profile recognition. No one really talks about the specific and uniue hardwork each writer is doing or did to make sure they are excellent at their craft. Sharpening your skill as a writer isn't just writing hard and publishing daily or reaching out to websites and magazines to feature your work, it's identifying your weaknesses as a writer and working yourself to the bone to eradicate those flaws so your masterpiece is error-free.

My talents haven't peaked – they are still climbing the mountain, exercising their muscles with every step I take writing and publishing. It's still a long way to go but I am already off the ground, I can't stop now. I wish I could but I can't. 

I have added faith, hard work, practice, passion to a natural inclination and it's becoming a skill. It's becoming something I can live off of. It's becoming something I'm proud to be associated with. It's becoming something I never want to do without. 

I hope you don't relent in your hard work toward skilling up. I hope you don't abandon a dream because the journey has been tough and most importantly, I hope you connect with people who would help you as you journey through your path. I am one of such people and I don't want you to be a stranger. Connect with me here on LinkedIn or Instagram.