Writing Meme Tag

This is new to me. I've been tagged with a "writing meme" by my favorite sister-in-law wfg . Now my task is to author a post about "my greatest writing strengths" and then tag a few others with the same assignment. I can hardly wait! Who oh who will I chose . . . could it be the only other two bloggers I know so far? Mwoooo ha ha ha haaaa ha!

One of my greatest strengths as a writer is that I am a fairly proficient speller and I have quite an erudite vocabulary. I can type quickly and make outlines as thoughts blast through my mind before I lose them forever, and then come back and flesh them out with ease.

Aside from all the basic technical stuff, however, I think my greatest asset to writing is that I have a sense of humor about myself and about the world around me. It allows me to see the mundane annoyances of daily life from a different perspective. The talent and courage (stupidity?) to put the often-hidden human impulses into words that allow others to identify with their own imperfections is not something that comes naturally. Instead, it comes from listening to people.

From every person I come in contact with, I gain something. My acute power for empathy is both a blessing and a curse. I immerse myself within a story of another being, and I can feel their pain, fear, joy, heartache, . . . emotions of all ilk. Every being has innate value and worth. I listen to people and learn from them - how they feel, what is important to them - and I incorporate their beliefs and experiences into my own value set. This is not to say that I accept everything I am told, or that my opinion is easily swayed. I constantly compare my own ideals against what I have learned from others and analyze how they fit with mine. There is always wiggle room! Most people, I can like. Even those few that I cannot tolerate (you know who you are), I find that I can learn and grow from knowing them. Sometimes it is those people who end up being the most important (like the "bestest friend in the whole wide world" that saves my life over and over again). That is what I put into my writing. And sometimes, often times, very lame puns are my worst downfall. All I am saying, is give peeps a chance!

I'm going to tag two of my peeps now:

Mandy
Pam