Why I do what I do

We all had a reason, some defining moment when we decided to write.  Some of us started earlier than others, some of us never became bogged down with real life and chose to follow the dream from day one.

I never really thought about my own defining moment.  To the present me, it has seemed like writing has always been.  However, this past week, something happened on Twitter and memories came flooding back.  I FOUND S.E. HINTON ON TWITTER!  (Gush!)

You see, it was reading 'The Outsiders' in seventh grade English class that started it all for me.  We read the book as an assignment in class.  Miss Hall told us that S.E. was a girl that wrote the story in her teens.  My friends and I decided to give writing a try.  We were all avid readers.  How difficult could the transition to writing be?

We shared what we wrote with each other.  They liked what I wrote.  They nagged for more.  Perhaps, this was the direction for me.  (I still have some of those early attempts.  Oh the teenage angst!)

Unfortunately, the inability to complete anything and my own low self esteem kept me from sharing my writing with more than my closest friends.  Oh, I definitely wrote over the years.  I even crafted a potential submission for Harlequin Romance. (I did finish that one, but somehow over the years lost the last few pages.)  I let my fear of not being good enough stop me from ever submitting.  In essence, I let my fear and the burdens of life keep me silent.

In 2005, I began to blog.  I met some incredible people.  They seemed to like what I wrote and often responded with terrific comments.  There I was simply babbling about my life and people were reading it.  Not only that!  Their friends began following me too!  That blogging forum and the subsequent forum that a good number of us shifted to afterward has since gone away.  The mighty dollar won out in each case, I guess.

Thanks to those days, I began to have more confidence in my writing.  I wasn't quite ready to step out and share anything, but the first paragraph of a fantasy novel came to me. I began to write again.  I threw out the ideas of outlining, character sketches, plotting and so on.  I had tried those and they did not work for me.  I believe there is a place for those things.  However, I think the timing for that is when it comes time to edit, at least for me. 

In 2011, I saw a post on Facebook about Dark Autumn Media seeking submissions for short stories to go into a horror anthology.  I decided to see what I could do in a week.  I had an idea.  I sat down at the computer and wrote it out in one day.  I tossed it into a folder for a week and let it begin to ferment.  I went back to it at the end of the week, re-read it, edited it and sent it to my alpha reader (my forever first reader).  She sent it back with edits and questions.  I updated and when we both thought it was good enough, submitted it.  It was accepted.

Unfortunately, the anthology fell through due to the lack of sufficient submissions.  I've since shared the short story with others who have enjoyed it.  All the while, I kept plugging along with the rough draft of my fantasy novel. 

So, thank you Miss Hall and S.E. Hinton.  If not for the two of you, I would still think my childhood career aspiration was to be Nancy Drew. :-)

What was your defining moment?