Playing to your Strengths

This next week will be busy with birthdays, family visiting, cooking and the overall Thanksgiving cheerfulness.  I'll try to post on my usual days, but don't hold your breath--you'll only pass out.

I LOVE having my family staying with us.  My SIL Margie and I have a great relationship, but one thing that makes our relationship work is that we know each other's strengths and weaknesses.  Over the past--gosh, I don't know HOW many years we've been doing this, let's just say--20+ years, we've been cooking desserts and appetizers for Thanksgiving.  Once Marge reacquaints herself with my kitchen, then we go to town, picking recipes, writing up lists and cooking. . . and drinking wine . . . lots and lots of wine. 

We tend to work together on many recipes.  I'll start one, but she'll finish it, and vice versa.  But if there is any sort of crust to be rolled out--I make her do it.  I suck at rolling out pie dough.  I know it.  I embrace the fact. So Margie does the dough.  She's not too fond of making caramel.  Watching and swirling sugar is paramount to watching paint dry on the wall, but I enjoy it.  It takes forever for sugar to get to the caramel stage, but once it starts browning you have to keep a close eye on it, otherwise it will burn.

In other words, we play to our strengths.

The same goes for writing.  If you excel at sensual love scenes, then you need to gear your writing in that direction.  If you are mentally (*raises hand* I am!) at the sixth grade level, then write middle grade stories.  If you like goofy, write goofy.  Write to your strengths. 

I've heard numerous times that writers need to write outside the box, or push past your comfort zone. 

Why?

Why set yourself up for failure?  You know you aren't comfortable with X, Y, or Z, why force yourself to write something that you don't like?  Especially if you are just starting down the writing path.  That's insane.

Get comfortable with WHO you are as a writer FIRST, then push your boundaries. It may take you one book or ten to get to that point, or you may not even care to push through. 

In MG and YA, dystopian, end-of-the-world is big.  So many debut writers are selling this stuff right now.  Will I write it?  NO.  I don't like reading that stuff and I'm sure as shooting not going to write it!

Readers aren't stupid. They sense within the words when you don't write your passion.  The story is flat, lifeless.  If you don't love it, so why should they?

Write to your strengths, then branch out after you know who you are as a writer.

Write on!