Find Your Hidden Talents 'Cause They Rock! Guest Post by B. Lynn Goodwin

Ever have a moment when you discover you have some unknown talent you never realized you had? Today's guest author B. Lynn Goodwin knows that feeling well. In today's guest post she'll discuss her coming of age novel, Talent, and give fascinating tips on how to discover your own hidden talents. Why? Well, 'cause they rock!

Find Your Hidden Talents ’Cause They Rock

by B. Lynn Goodwin

In my coming of age novel, TALENT, Sandee Mason tries out for her high school’s musical. She's been living in the shadow of her successful older brother, and she believes it’s time to find her talent, show it off, and maybe even earn applause. Instead of getting a role, though, she is assigned the task of assistant stage manager.

She’s already showing a talent for organization and trouble-shooting when her family gets some terrible news. When the principal asks her to speak at a school assembly, her talents for public speaking, for creating a meaningful power point, for staying composed in a crisis, and for reaching out to others are all in play. As it turns out, she has more talents than she ever imagined, including one that puts her on stage. She simply needed to see herself in a whole new way.

You might be as puzzled about your talents as Sandee. Life has a way of keeping us from seeing ourselves clearly, so here are a few steps to find talents you may not recognize…yet.

1. Make a list of your known talents. It’s always most comfortable to start in a familiar place. Maybe your known talents will help you discover your hidden ones.

2. Imagine you are your best friend. Step into that person’s head and describe yourself. Take 10 minutes and do it now. Try to sound like your best friend. Don’t have a best friend? Use a neighbor, a peer, a co-worker, your spouse or your pet instead. What? Your pet can’t talk? I grant him a special dispensation. Seriously, just go for it. Let your friend say what you can’t or won’t.

3. Read your list from #1 and your friend’s description from #2. Underline every potential hidden talent. Smart, hard working, enterprising, compassionate, good listener, good organizer, fun loving, great date, excellent lover, wonderful mom, and patient dad, are all talents. Remember, a talent is any natural aptitude of skill. Finding your talents is sometimes a matter of reframing your self-image.

4. What are your real passions (as opposed to your “should” activities)? If you love an activity, you practice it until you do it well. When your skills develop, your talent becomes obvious. Sandee takes pictures. She’d realize it is a talent if she weren’t hung up on hearing applause. Her friend Diego plays the drums, whether he has drums in front of him, or a kitchen table, or his lap. His hands won’t stop. He loves the rhythms. He cannot leave it alone. His passion became his talent.

5. Why do your friends like and respect about you? What about your kids? Make one list for friends, and another for your kids. Is anything in both lists? What traits, abilities, or skills do you see? How many of them do you recognize as talents?

I’d love to hear your answers, if you want to share. Contact me through my blog, http://blynngoodwin.com.

TALENT is available on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Talent-B-Lynn-Goodwin/.

Thank you Jodi Webb with WOW - Women on Writing for providing this stop on B. Lynn Goodwin's blog tour. For more dates and extra info, click here!

About the Author:

B. Lynn Goodwin is the owner of Writer Advice, www.writeradvice.com, and the author of both You Want Me to Do WHAT? Journaling for Caregivers (Tate Publishing), and TALENT (Eternal Press).  Her blog is at http://blynngoodwin.com. Goodwin’s stories and articles have been published in Voices of Caregivers; Hip Mama; Small Press Review; Dramatics Magazine; The Sun; Good Housekeeping.com and many other venues. A former drama and English teacher, she now conducts writing workshops, writes book reviews, edits, coaches writers, and is currently working on a second book about Sandee Mason’s adventures and a memoir about getting married for the first time at age 62 to a two-time widower who she met on…gulp…Craigslist. She lives with her husband, Richard, and her dog, Eddie McPuppers, in Northern California.

B. Lynn Goodwin’s website: http://www.writeradvice.com/  &  http://blynngoodwin.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blynn.goodwin
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Lgood67334


About the book: TALENT by B. Lynn Goodwin

Fifteen-and-half-year-old Sandee Mason wants to find her talent, get her driver's license, and stop living in the shadow of her big brother, Bri, who disappeared while serving in Afghanistan.
She discovers that real life doesn’t have a script as she deals with loss, the manipulation of Bri’s best friend, her burning ambition to find her talent and figure out what happened to Bri, and unexpected bits of joy that pop up when she least expects them.

TALENT is available on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Talent-B-Lynn-Goodwin/

Author: B. Lynn Goodwin
Genre: young adult
Publisher: Eternal Press
Publication Date: November 1 2015
Paperback:  284 pages (also available in ebook format)