You know, as the child of two musicians, a mom who could sight-read anything, and a dad whose sight-reading was crap, but could play anything he actually heard, and transpose and arrange it in his head, I don't buy it.

I agree that writing poetry and writing fiction are different skillsets.

I'm personally far more comfortable with poetry, as I've been writing it since childhood, but that doesn't mean that I'm giving up on fiction. Far from it.

I do NOT agree that, if you excel at one, that means that the other is unassailable, and not possible for you.

If you want to write fiction, WRITE IT.

Yeah. You may suck at first. But if you have a poetic bent, you have a WRITING bent, and if you KEEP TRYING, you will succeed.

Don't give up. Your voice, your own incomparable perspective, is FAR too important for you to give up.

Yeah, it may take a while. Let it. Allow it. Nurture it.

I, for one, want to read what you come up with once you reach the other side.

We NEED your voice. Seriously.