The F and I argue occasionally about his perceived craptastic writing skills. He’d often say that I was this “brilliant” writer, blah, blah, blah and how he just sucked at writing no matter what.
Frankly, I don’t buy it.
People who think they are bad writers overemphasize how horrible their writing skills actually come across. They become overly apologetic about written work. They believe their sentence structure is barely coherent and reads like the stuff from CroMagnon magazine.
In actuality, it’s people who think of themselves as good writers as the worst offenders. They are the worst writers because they think they are so good.
They’ll become screeching prima donnas of the worst kind if someone dares critique anything they’ve written (typos excluded).
Writing is a skill like any other. Just like you can learn to dance, sing (or at least carry a tune) and play the guitar – lots of stuff can be learned. Will you be Debbie Allen, Christina Aguilera or John Mayer?
No, not necessarily.
But, are you trying to be? That is the difference between respecting a learned skill and appreciating talents. The nuances lie in how much effort you put forward into doing something well (talent or skill). Worthwhile endeavors cannot be concerned with whether you were born with a knack for language, music or sports.
Talent is natural skill. People overrate the good (or bad) that it brings. Then again, I’ve never had to worry about my bad writing – I’ve had over 20 years of practice.