Welcome to this week’s Marketing for Romance Writer’s 52-week Blog Challenge with the topic of My Odd, Useless Talent. I’d assume that anything deemed to be odd wouldn’t be a talent with much use to anyone but the individual. Although after watching a few episodes of America’s Got Talent it’s obvious that people believe that they have talent—things that I hadn’t even thought might be considered a talent.
You’ll never see me on the show since I’d have immense stage fright, and because I don’t know if I have a talent that is entertaining enough for America. Although I do have a few things that others might find useless, but I find some good use for these odd talents.
Useless Talents
There are a few things that I seem to have become quite talented at over the years and others that seem that their only purpose is to be
detrimental. Therefore, I’ve spent some time focusing on getting rid of these talents to make room for ones that might be a little more useful.
- Making Mountains Out of Molehills – the ability to make assumptions about something that may turn out to be completely irrelevant
- Obsessive Worrying and Rumination – side effects of this talent include loss of sleep, increased anxiety and the inability to focus on things that are actually relevant
- Driving a One-Track Mind – the detrimental (and frustrating) effects of this talent have become apparent when one of my daughters decided she was going to drive this train (now I know what my Mom used to complain about—who knew, I always thought this was a compliment)
- Staring-Â used to win me many staring contests and I often think shows that I’m a good listener but it seems that staring without blinking while I’m writing stories in my mind tends to freak some people out.
Not So Useless Talents
These ‘talents’ don’t necessarily serve their true purpose, but they have proven to be not as useless as I once thought.
- Psychoanalyzing Others – With experience and education in psychology and mental health, long after I’ve left the floor I’m still analyzing why people act the way they do and what makes them tick. This can be beneficial to my own mental health because it enables me to develop empathy for others. (Plus, it’s great to apply to my characters!)
- Dancing – I never did become a Solid Gold dancer, not even close! But dancing brings me joy and always improves my mood. I make opportunities to dance every day in whatever I’m doing. Because it’s impossible to be in a bad mood if you’re dancing.
- Writing – You may wonder why I’ve listed this here when I’ve published books, and that I also work as a healthcare freelance writer. So obviously, this isn’t a useless talent. It’s because it’s taken way too many years of my life to embrace this talent. Much of this is because I’d often heard that you couldn’t make a career out of writing. Or that writing a book was almost an impossible dream.
Discover More Talent
Go ahead and hop around the other blogs and discover what odd, or useless talents the other authors want to share. Perhaps one of them will be the next to display their unusual talent on television!
But before you go, check out what’s available for pre-order! This is no trick!
NOT A CHANCE is the second book in The Enchantlings series, after DESTINY CALLING. Either can stand alone, but I find it more fun to get to spend more time with the characters.
Pre-order NOT A CHANCE today for a treat on Halloween. Releasing October 31, 2018.
I, too, share most of your “useless” talents, particularly the tendency toward obsession. A psychologist one told me that those with a proclivity toward obsess over things generally rise above what he called the “room temperature” crowd in intelligence. I took it as a compliment.
Great post about talents. I seem to share some of them lol. Congrats on new release and love the cover.
I, too, share many of your talents. LOL Obsessing over little things, esp. I know what you mean about writing. I wish I hadn’t waited so long to start writing as a career. But regrets don’t accomplish anything–even though I know that I still do it. Focus on what you do best. Congrats on the upcoming release.