I woke today with this question in mind, and my answer was yes.

Faith that I will finish what I start. That the questions I ask — who dun nit, why and where? — will one day be answered. That I will find a way around the blocks in my path. That my work will be acknowledged, if only by myself. That the words I create will somehow flow. That the words I now whisper will one day sing.

What do you think?

I recently received a kind email from an aspiring writer who claimed I had talent. It got me thinking about whether or not talent is something we are born with or work toward. Here’s, ultimately, how I responded:

Writing talent, I believe, boils down to time. More simply: You’ve got to make time to write because developing your voice and skill takes time. The more you write, the better you become. The better you become, the more “talent” you have.

You find time via your heart. It is your heart that draws you to the page. Always listen to the heart — not to what you think people will think of your work — and the words will come.

What do you think?

A few weeks back, I found an interesting article by Jonathan Yardley, book critic for The Washington Post’s Sunday book section. It was about how Charles Dickens came to write A Christmas Carol, and in just six weeks. His inspiration: financial ruin.

In 1843, Dickens was hitting literary bottom. His first five books had made him England’s best selling author and a worldwide celebrity: Sketches by Boz, The Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby and The Old Curiosity Shop. His next three books were duds (Barnaby Rudge, Martin Chuzzlewit and American Notes).

Dickens also was hitting financial bottom. He had a large family to support, huge debts to repay, and he feared sinking into oblivion. He was 31.

One October night in 1843, as he was walking along the streets of Manchester, taking stock of his life, more specifically, his writing life, he realized where he had gone wrong: He had begun taking his audience for granted, and he had strayed from plain storytelling.

On subsequent walks, bits and pieces of what would become A Christmas Carol coalesced. He worked in isolation at a feverish pitch, and six weeks and 30,000 words later, he completed the novel.

It was the biggest financial gamble of his life. His publishers weren’t enthusiastic about its prospects. In fact, they made him pay production costs and do his own promotion. Dickens’ gamble paid off, however. A Christmas Carol was an immediate success, and before the end of the year, it went into its third printing.

Dickens went on to write other classics, of course. Among them: David Copperfield, Bleak House, A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations.

Would he have been able to write these books without having taken a gamble on A Christmas Carol? Who knows. But I do know that gambles can sometimes be the safest bets. In this case, Dickens dug deep, returned to his storytelling roots and rediscovered his voice. All of which made him a stronger, more confident writer — and an inspiration.

Harry and the Lady Next Door is is one of my all-time favorite children’s books. Note that I said books. In fact, it is the only “fiction” book I keep in my office.

My husband and I used to read it to my eldest daughter, Julia. Just about every night, two or three times a night. We each took turns acting out its characters.

Written by Gene Zion, it’s about Harry, a dog with sensitive ears who can’t stand the lady next door whose singing drives him nuts. In the book, he gets into all sorts of mischief as he tries to make her stop.

The book is illustrated by Margaret Bloy Graham, whose pictures capture Harry’s great personality and wacky doggedness (pun intended).

Zion has written other Harry books:

•Harry by the Sea
•No Roses for Harry
•Harry the Dirty Dog Treasury
•Harry the Dirty Dog Board Book

Yes. And no. A lot depends on what I am writing – how close to the heart a project is. The closer it is, the more fearful I get. I hate being afraid, but I am learning to accept rather than fight it. It’s part of the territory. The more important issue, I know, is to focus on the process, not the product. A book can be rejected, my writing process cannot.
How about you?