Yes, Writing Is a Skill, Not Just a Passion. Here’s Why It Matters

When you engage with others about writing, what’s their perception? Do they treat it as a serious, legitimate, unique skill? Or do they dismiss it as a quaint hobby, a passion that’s “nice” but won’t pay the bills?

Writing can be a passion, but it is also a serious skill

It’s admittedly harder than ever for writers to keep the lights on these days. But as I constructed my LinkedIn newsletter for the week, I focused on a study that showed how arts and crafts can bring the same sense of meaning and expression we normally associate with work. It struck me that perhaps, because people tend to think of writing as an expressive tool, they forget that it also is a serious skill. Not everyone can do it, even with AI. (In fact, in my view, AI for the purpose of generating content means they’re not doing it.)

Put another way, writing isn’t just a way to lift your voice and connect to others. It’s not just a passion. It is also what a writer who has sufficiently practiced is good at. And as I put it in the newsletter,

part of the bias around arts and crafts is that they represent only passions. They don’t. They also represent exceptional talents and skills, and part of feeling like you make a difference and that life has purpose is being able to apply what you’re good at. Removing arts and crafts as a professional path makes it harder for people like me to do that.

Why letting people work in their natural talent area matters

Some people are really good at multiple things — i.e., they are genuinely skilled in more than one area, often learning quickly. This is the definition of a polymath. But many people have single gifts. They don’t have another skill that comes naturally or that truly feels easy.

So, what happens if, as is happening to writers right now, a person is forced out of the work they’re genuinely gifted to do?

In most scenarios, the individual has little choice but to take work they enjoy far less and that requires more effort to complete.

Would you want that?

Me, neither.

Yet, the bias against writing means that many wordsmiths get pushback as they try to build careers. They’re told to find “real jobs” and that writing isn’t serious work. Continuing to pursue writing work thus means a person has to be exceptionally grounded about the fact they do have talent. They have to believe in it, accept that writing is the best-fit job, and persist knowing they are specially equipped for the craft.

Let’s allow people the best quality of life by letting them use their natural gifts

When we have to do work that we’re not naturally good at, life inevitably is a little harder. More stressful. This reality tends to not get attention in the discussion around professional upskilling. The assumption is that moving from one area to another is lateral — i.e., we think that ease and enjoyment will improve to match the level of the original skill area once we conquer the learning curve. But because natural talent can’t be manifested on demand, familiarity doesn’t necessarily translate to efficiency, let alone comfort.

This isn’t to say that we shouldn’t participate in activities we don’t have a natural talent for. I stink at math, but I still help my husband with the budget. There’s value in understanding other areas, even when those areas aren’t where you work, too. That’s all a good leader really does well. They coordinate people who have skills they don’t have. But as the writing industry leaves writers with fewer options, and as work is becoming harder for young workers to get, let’s not ignore the fact that doing what you have real skills for and doing what you can miserably power through and get a good yield on are two completely different things. They can translate to a wildly different quality of life. We should try to let people grab what’s better for them whenever possible.