The Way We Are: You can handle it

Okay, so there was that moment when you first got the SPARK to be a writer.

And then there was that moment when you decided what you were going to DO with that spark. Where you were going to work to have it take you. You might have decided that you only want your posterity to read what you write. Or maybe you decided you want as big of an audience as you could get through Indie publishing. Or through a regional press. Or through a traditional publisher. Maybe you want everyone in the world to read what you write!

And let's face it. If you are going to have people read your stuff, it takes guts. So... my question this week is:

When did you realize that you had the guts to handle being a writer?

For me, it was realizing I could handle the critiques that came with being a writer. It happened about 3 1/2 years ago. I took a college creative writing class from a teacher who, quite frankly, scared me. I had only been writing for a few months, and was still about six months from meeting my writing group. My teacher announced that we were going to do in-class critiques, and we were going to start with me. My very first critique. I showed up with copies of my story for everyone the next class, the teacher passed them out, and then the class went silent as everyone read.

I sat at the back of the classroom, watching everyone read what I wrote. I didn't have butterflies in my stomach-- I had them flapping around my heart. The excitement built and built in my chest until I tingled everywhere from the thrill of people reading my stuff. Something I created. By the time they finished reading and drew that last breath before giving me their critiques, there was no nervousness-- only intense anticipation that I hungered for like nothing else. I knew then that I wouldn't ever cringe from a critique-- I'd crave it. I left that class knowing that I could take any critique I got thrown at me.

So there's mine. Now let's hear yours!

What was the moment that told you that you could handle it? (Or the moment that let you know you could at least handle a part of it.) Was it when you first made a blog and put your thoughts out there for strangers to read? When you figured out how to reorganize your life to fit writing in? When you stared at books in a bookstore and knew that you'd handle whatever came your way whenever to get yours there, too? When you realized you could reach "the end" in the novel you started? When you realized you had more than one book idea in you?

We want to hear about it!