A friend of mine was selling stories and poems to significant pro markets when he was in his teens -- I'd say that yes, he was a natural talent. But he says he found it hard to transition to writing in his 20s when his life experiences changed so very much and found he was having to relearn (or learn for the first time) techniques and discipline he'd taken for granted.

FWIW, it's far more usual for pro writers to start selling in their thirties. It's something of a craft-learning, discipline-having, life-experienced period coming together. Innate talent to learn those lessons faster or have a better ear for word music might get you there sooner. Actually LIKING doing it also helps, which is also a part of 'talent.'

There seems to be almost no ability to reproduce sounds that resemble recognizable tunes in my family -- however, my ears have been well trained by living with a musician - and that even translates to having some appreciation for non-western music. I think talent - which I might call natural ability - has to have some sort of genetic component. I think various kinds of abilities have helped us in an evolutionary sense - physical things are more obvious , but other skills help with communication ( singing writing )for example.

And part of the reason it looks so complex - we can use David's example of hitting in baseball - is because one way of hunting, communicating , or building might have kept us from changing , and therefore kept us from surviving.

I'm having a really interesting discussion about whether or not talent actually exists, or if it is all just hard work.

Why are those the only choices? Certainly, some people have slight genetic advantages, and if there's the right combination of early childhood experiences and desire and effort, then poof, 20 years later people say "Wow, she was born to do this."

But the first months and years of life are critical, because they have a huge, lasting impact on brain development. And what happens (or fails to happen) then can't be balanced out with extra work later. That's not genetic or a matter of effort; it's pure luck.

JZ, did your singing lessons include ear training work?

I will get all this laundry done tonight. I will buy new jeans tomorrow. I will get up early enough.

I've been going all day. Marketed (ran into our lisah!) hit up Target and the Walmarts (they're the only place that still has replacement mop heads for my mops,) scrubbed out the litterboxes, vacuumed the upstairs and spot-cleaned the barf and other feline eruptions (Devi had an episode while I was gone,) laundried, swam, manicured.

Tired.

I'm a little worried about Mister Kitty. He dropped an awful lot of weight in the past week. Not the fault of the catsitter, I pretty much push food at him whenever I'm home, and I only asked her to proffer wet food the two times a day she came over. Not sure if it is that, or he's doing another dramatic decline. He's just so old. I'll pick up some high fat kitten food tomorrow. And call the vet monday.

Damn, sarameg, just reading that made me tired.

I still have to retrieve the last of the laundry and make up my bed. And find where Pumpkin discarded her collar this time. I like her belled. Easier to find the little mad dasher.

Oh, and I scrubbed the tub with Barkeeper's Friend. Only way to keep the rust stains at bay until I can have it recoated (but not recolored!)

Collar found, 'kin belled for now. She was covered in cobwebs from who knows where in the basement and her feet were wet...

Ugh, I need to remember never to initiate conversations with my mother. They always end up being about Why I'm Not Dating Jews. Also, I've had the realization that my mother takes my life choices as a personal insult to her and her parenting, which is no fun at all.

my mother takes my life choices as a personal insult to her and her parenting

Yup. Yup yup yup.

"That's not how I raised you."

Yup.