Skillz

Driving home from piano lessons today, I was especially impressed with my oldest daughter, age 8. I told her so.

"And do you know why you did so well?" I asked, trying my best to insert important life lesson #273, Practice makes perfect, or at least probably pretty great.

"Yeah. I've got skillz."

I'm pretty sure it was with a 'z.'

"I'm sorry?" Skilz? "I was going to say it was because you practiced so hard this week, every day."

"Yeah," she replies, staring out the window. "But it doesn't hurt that I just plain have talent."

I have absolutely nothing to say to her. Because she is absolutely right. Not about being musically talented--she is--but about how much easier something is if you're actually good at it.

I just spent 11 days learning about the craft of writing. How to create a solid Point of View, how to cut 'lardass prose' (Jane Resh Thomas, left), and how Theme is the 'aboutness' of your story (Anne Ursu, below).

But how much do learning these things actually help my writing process? What if I am actually quite horrible and no amount of study or practice will help me get from rough manuscript to celebrated best-seller?

Or, the much more frightening flip side...What if I actually have some talent, and forget to practice? If I take for granted the ability to put pen to paper and thought to page? What if I don't study the pieces that paved the way, the Fugues of Louis Sachar, the Symphonies of Rowling and Tolkien, and the Folk Songs of Aesop?

My daughter's wisdom, again, reminds me to take what I have and do what I can with it. I certainly need lots of practice, and my study habits are rusty. But it also reminds me that some seem to be blessed with gifts beyond anyone's control. Don't hate on them. Just hope, for their sakes, that they don't forget to practice.