Our theme this month asks us to write about three things we do well -- I decided to not confine that to three things I do well in my writing life or as an author. Although I'm sure there are many other things I also handle pretty well on some level, I opted to highlight three of my favorite talents.
I am a life-long genealogist, and I particularly enjoy the analytical elements of genealogy. I often find myself shaking my head at online family trees or entries where someone has clearly not looked at the big picture OR the small details. The other day, I noticed that a family tree connection that's been shared and perpetuated all over the internet quite clearly is impossible -- basic arithmetic around known facts makes the data wildly inaccurate on its face. I pride myself on attention to detail -- even if that means I must remain right where I am on that family line until I can find the proven links to earlier generations (resisting the temptation to add 10 more generations in one fell swoop!). It should be said that same painstaking attention to detail is both a blessing and a curse in my historical research -- you can be sure I left no stones unturned in trying to "get it right" but . . . I might have spent weeks dithering around over one tiny and probably insignificant detail.
Spreadsheets are my jam. Despite being incredibly math-challenged, I am the queen of spreadsheets, to-do lists, and any other data compilation. I actually wrote fastest and with fewer distractions when I created a spreadsheet-based chapter-by-chapter outline in Excel (with columns for typical romance novel beats, the perspective character's goals, motivations and conflicts in that chapter, etc). I suppose it's a mark of a certain level of geekiness to own up to enjoying data and spreadsheets. And I suspect it's an odd talent for a creative person to highlight.
What else do I do well? Well, recently, I've been in a decluttering and organization frame of mind. I went on a spring cleaning frenzy -- and the results are fostering a stronger sense of calm and well-being. My hope is that improving my space and my mood might also send me back to my work-in-progress, which has been languishing for far too long! I started with my very cluttered scrapbooking space and supplies and moved on to my desk. Up next: closets!
I look forward to reading about what all of you chose to spotlight in this month's blogs!
