Talented?

You know, I can sing and write and whatnot, but aside from that, I don't have any natural talents I can think of. I"m not really sure if those count as talents anyways. I guess my academics are kind of a talent - I'm gifted and all, but does that really count as a talent? I mean, anything I've ever been any good at is something I've worked very hard at. Stuff doesn't just come easy for me very often.

Remember how I taught myself to sing? I taught myself to write much the same way. I was reading at three years old, and after immersing myself in my books for years and years (and thus losing any social capacity I might have had), I started writing, and my writing slowly turned into what it is now, after a ton of essays and playing with poetry and about seven different attempts at books, not to mention the countless rewrites of books that consisted only of the first chapter.

I got good at riding and working with horses after spending every waking moment I possibly could at the stables from the winter of my freshman year until I left to go to school. I took lessons as long as I could afford it and I worked cleaning stalls and feeding and riding every horse on the property until I got some degree of horse sense.

It's like that with everything I do: gymnastics, horses, singing, writing, schoolwork, bicycling, and now I'm working on photography. Funny thing is, the first time I did these things, no one had the reaction of "Oh, you have talent." My singing received a multitude of shushing and kids telling me to "shut up," while my writing often garnered dishonest opinions when I only wanted critiques.

So, this is my question to you: Can you really consider any of these to be talents?

Well, while I'm posting about talents, I might as well do something I've been putting off for a while. I'll let you guys see my deviantART. Yup, I don't have much up there, but it's a little bit of random stuff. Nowhere near as cool as I see some people, like *Shichigoro756 (You're welcome for the free advertising. You're awesome.), posting, but hey. It's something. Maybe one of these days I'll get something really cool up there, like if I ever post part of my book, or figure out how to take pictures in the fog. Don't worry, I'll be sure to let you know if I do. But even though I don't really see it as anything spectacular, you should take a look. The more feedback I get, the better.

Deviously yours,
Shansie