Are professional writers overrated?

By skilled writer, I’m talking about someone whose job description involves writing.

Makes perfect sense.

I’m here to tell you: Don’t discount the non-writers.

Don’t make the mistake of ignoring someone who has a great story just because they don’t write regularly—or all that well.

Case in point: a post my friend and Montreal restaurateur Alex Winnicki wrote.

He wrote it for the group blog that I run about the interplay of food and life in Montreal. It’s called ici et here.

Alex is a restaurateur and must’ve told me eight times before the post: “Yo, man, I ain’t a writer.” No, he is not. But his story is from the heart.

In his blog post, Alex talks about the neighborhood where he’s lived for 28 years—how it has changed, and how he and his brother try to bring their multiethnic backgrounds to bear on their cuisine.

Alex writes: