Influential Moments

by ANDREA MACK on FEBRUARY 12, 2010

Once in a while, something happens that causes my whole outlook on writing to change.

When my father died a few years ago, it made me think about what I really wanted to do during my lifetime — write, of course! Instead of just dabbling and sending out the occasional submission, I took courses and workshops, set goals for myself, applied for freelance writing jobs, and ended up becoming a freelance educational writer.

This month, I had another breakthrough moment. This one was about what I do with my writing time. I decided to make more time for writing for myself.

Since then, I’ve been working on my writing almost every day. The surprising thing is that now I can’t wait to get to my desk to work on my story. It could be because this time, I have an outline. Or because it’s my third [still unpublished] novel and I’ve finally developed a more efficient writing process. But I think that it’s because I’m more focussed on writing for me. I know it isn’t going to be perfect. It could be a practice novel, or it could be “the one that gets published”. It doesn’t matter. My writing is important for me and I just want to write.

What breakthrough moments have had an impact on your writing?

– Andrea