On Talent and Running with your Gift

I recently finished Kurt Vonnegut’s writing book Pity the Reader.  In it, Suzanne McConnell (a former student of Vonnegut’s) compiles various pieces of advice and tidbits from the master.  I might do a more in depth review of the book (which, in short, was great), but I was struck by the section, Eeny-Meeny-Miny-Moe or Choice.

In it, McConnell points to an interview Vonnegut did in The Paris Review in 1977.  He speaks about his sister Alice and her talent:  

“[Alice] could have been a...