Ein Schriftsteller-Blog: Robert Twigger

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Ein Schriftsteller-Blog: Robert Twigger

Seit ein paar Monaten lese ich den Blog des englischen Abenteurers und Schriftstellers Robert Twigger (http://www.roberttwigger.com). Er schreibt dort über seine Reisen, das Leben in Kairo, Expeditionen, Ökonomie, Mittel gegen Insektenstiche und - vor allem - über das Schreiben. Besonders bemerkenswert finde ich die Menge und Regelmäßigkeit seiner Beiträge: Er schreibt nicht nur (fast) jeden Tag, sondern auch erstaunliche Mengen.

Zum Thema Talent sagt er:

We hear a lot about it taking 10,000 hours to master a skill though I did have a bizarre conversation with someone (a photographer- always a bit touchy on such subjects as we all know there’s nothing to it but pressing a button…I jest) that it was really 15,000 hours. Hmm. Whatever- a long time, 10 years if you do ‘your thing’ 4 hours a day 250 days a year.

It can’t all be hard work though. There must be some place for talent in there.

Maybe we need less talent than we think though.

Paravicini, a noted autistic savant, and a professional pianist, achieved excellence by playing ‘as if his life depended on it’. Aged four he just banged a keyboard with his fists and elbows- his teacher, who tutored him from this primitive state to concert standard, said of the boy's efforts: ‘to me it’s mainly hard work’.

In other words- talent is more about motivation than talent.
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