That One Pivotal Moment That Pushed Me to Start Finally Writing

inspiration to write, life-changing events, writing motivation, taking the leap, becoming an author

I'll be honest: for the longest time, I couldn't muster up the courage to take that leap into writing. Sure, I had all these ideas swirling in my head, but turning them into an actual book? That felt like an impossible mountain to climb. But then life happened, and boy, it gave me a much-needed kick in the pants.

I’ve experienced two monumental moments in my life that have pushed me towards writing. Both have centered around the death of a loved one. The first was the death of my father when I was in my early twenties.

It was before six in the morning when I got that fateful phone call. My older sister’s sobs echoed over the phone line before my mother took the phone from her to tell me that my father had just passed away from a heart attack. At that moment, everything seemed so surreal. I didn’t know what to do or how to act. Should I cry, should I scream, should I simply go back to sleep? No one ever tells you how you should act when a parent dies.

That phone call was the pivotal moment that changed everything for me. Following my dad’s death, I had a bout of insomnia, not putting two and two together, I just assumed I was stressed from school. So, I started writing at night to keep myself entertained. It’s weird to be so bored and tired yet completely unable to fall asleep. I needed something to keep my mind busy, so I started working on a story called “Giving Up the Ghost.” I’m still working on this story and don’t know if I’ll ever publish it. It deals a lot with grief, death, and loss, and it is written like a memoir, but it is mostly fictional. It’s now called “Echoes of Us” and is a post-apocalyptic horror story. But again, I don’t know if I’ll ever publish it. I may just keep it for myself and share it some other way in the future, but for now, it remains unfinished even after all of these years.

The second moment that spurred me into action was when my soul dog, Grimm, died. Grimm was everything to me, and I took his death harder than I took my dad’s. This was mainly because I had to make the decision to put him to sleep, and the guilt of making that decision still plagues me to this day. His death sent me spiraling and resulted in my poetry book, “Where We Once Existed,” and from there, “Fall Into Midnight,” my debut novel, was published. Grimm’s passing pushed me past my limit, causing me to break down, take a leave of absence from work for my mental health, leave my job, and move to North Carolina to pursue my own business. All of this resulted in me focusing more on writing. It’s hard to believe that all this resulted from a long-haired Chihuahua, but Grimm was an amazing companion and greatly impacted my life.

Leaving my secure job and taking that leap to start my own business and to write more was terrifying but also one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Writing became my solace during those difficult times, a way to escape and find joy amidst the pain. With every word I typed, I felt more alive, more purposeful.

So, if you're reading this and you've been putting off your writing dreams, I implore you: don't wait for a life-altering event to motivate you. Start today, start now. Trust me, once you take that first step, there's no telling where your journey might lead you.