Last night at book club we were discussing life-changing moments. I didn’t voice a comment – mostly because I couldn’t think of much to say – but I’ve been mulling over today what I might have answered.
I can think of a few obvious life-changing moments: college, marriage, the birth of my first child. Then there’s others that are more personal, less obvious: losing a baby, supporting my husband as he started his own business, and writing my first book.
The turning point, the life-changing moment in my writing was that first book. I’d wanted to publish/write a book for a long time, but the year my oldest was born, my husband gave me some plotting software that I used to start writing my first book.
At that point, I’d never been to a writers conference. I knew very little about publishing and even about writing a novel. I read The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Writing a Novel (which is actually a great book) and some other writing books and I learned as I went! I wrote the book and I finished it. I became a writer. That was one of my life-changing moments.
What moments in your writing journey have been turning points for you?
Share with:
I love this Stacy! I've had so many turning points–even turning points IN my life as a writer. I think the defining moment for me was placing second with Jump Boys at Storymakers the first year I went. I swear it was at THAT MOMENT that I realized that I was a writer. Up until then, I think I thought I dabbled or something. But that acknowledgment of my writing was HUGE for me and became THE MOMENT that I found it was okay to say "I am a writer."
Haven't looked back since!
A turning moment for me was the first time I went to Writing and Illustrating For Young Readers. I was in Tracy & Laura Hickman's class and it literally changed my life. It was then that I decided to give myself permission to write. =]
Excellent post, Stacie!
Hi, Stacy! I hopped over from Ali's blog to say hello. Blogging was a MAJOR turning point in my writing. It changed everything about how I do things and how I view myself as a writer. 🙂
Hey Stacy, I left you an award on my blog today! ♥
The biggest turning point in my writing career was after I had given up, put my stories in a folder, and buried them in my filing cabinet. A couple years later, a friend who I had asked to read my first few chapters called me up and said she'd been unpacking and came across my manuscript and read through it again. She said I really needed to finish it because it was good.
It really wasn't very good. In fact, knowing what I know now, it's kind of an embarrassment. ;o) But her phone call and words of encouragement got me back to writing, and I know I'll never quit again.
I finally decided that I'll one day definitely be published. One of my projects will eventually be picked up by someone. What's more important and probably where the first realization came from is that I realized I'd keep writing stories even if nothing gets picked up. I won't stop writing because I love it.