I never really thought of what my made-it-moment was. I knew since the age of seven that I wanted to be a writer. Writing was the biggest part of my life. From poetry, short stories, news reporting, to marketing communications. I even owned my own resume writing service. I had my novel inside me but I just didn’t know how to get it out.
My made-it-moment is a twofold one. One private, one public. The death of my mother propelled me to finally write the novel I always wanted to write. The story came to me in a vision fifteen years ago and my mother was the first person I told it to. We chatted excitedly about it. I wrote two chapters, but then life got busy and I shelved it.
After my mother’s death, twelve years later, I sat down and finished writing A Human Element. I did it through grief without looking back. Writing The End was a private made-it-moment for me. I could do this. I could write a book.
Connected to this was the defining public made-it-moment when praising reviews started rolling in for my debut novel, A Human Element – and they were by unbiased strangers! I continue to be amazed and overwhelmed that people I don’t know like my book and have been as touched by my characters as I am. It’s like getting a surprise gift each time I see a new four or five star review. It was hard for me to realize once my book was published that it would be “out there.” You mean people will actually read it? Scary! But then they liked it. That drove the fear away.
I wish my mother were here to celebrate the praise I’ve been blessed to receive. It is a bittersweet feeling, knowing that I would not be a published author today if it were not for my mother’s passing. She drove my made-it-moment of writing the novel I always knew I had inside me to the made-it-moment of knowing I had written something that touched others. I hope I can do it again.
