Life is made up of a sequence of moments. Some of them great, some of them not so great. But I’m one of those “Life is all about the journey not the destination” people and I think all of the moments are important. They make us who we are. and often change our lives irrevocably.

For some reason, a memory came back to me last week one morning while I was drying my hair. In my former life as a disc jockey, I had the honor of serving as announcer for a Relay for Life event. I didn’t know until I arrived what that entailed. I had to read the names. That’s right, THE names. The stands were filled with family and friends of the people on that list. People who had been taken much too soon by cancer. I can’t tell you how important it was for me to get those names exactly right nor how difficult it was to keep a level voice. There were so many names. Too many names. But I have rarely felt as blessed or as humbled as I did that night.

Another moment we all remember is 9/11. I had to be on the air that day. We discontinued the music and ran straight news but we did break in from time to time to bring the local connection to the stories. I have no idea how I got through that day but it is another of those moments that changed me. Formed me. Informed me.

These stories we write are the same. The characters are on a journey and the moments, or scenes, we put together make those characters who they are. I have found that it’s not until I have written quite a bit of back story and several encounters between my main characters and others that I have a real understanding of who they are. Much of that back story never sees the light of day but it forms my characters by informing me.

Are you a person who takes the time to enjoy the journey? Can you pinpoint a specific moment when you learned something new, became someone new? I’m sure for many of us women we would say when we gave birth. Every moment since that Wednesday morning in July has been better and brighter for me. Tell us about your favorite moment you’ve written or one of the most amazing moments you’ve had in this wonderful journey.

Hopefully, someday, we’ll all get to include the moment we sold our first book!